Morga v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc.

• Citation: 420 P.3d 586
• Decision Date: 06 February 2018
• Docket Number: NO. A-1-CA-35001,A-1-CA-35001
• Parties: Alfredo MORGA, Individually and on behalf of the Estate of Ylairam Morga, Deceased; and as Next Friend of Yahir Morga, Minor Child, and Rene Venegas Lopez, Individually and as the Administrator of the Estate of Marialy Ruby Venegas Morga Deceased; and Georgina Leticia Venegas, Individually, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. FEDEX GROUND PACKAGE SYSTEM, INC., Ruben's Trucking, LLC a/k/a Ruben Reyes a/k/a Shooter's Express Trucking, Inc., the Estate of Elizabeth Sena Quintana, and M&K's Trucking, Inc., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

420 P.3d 586

Alfredo MORGA, Individually and on behalf of the Estate of Ylairam Morga, Deceased; and as Next Friend of Yahir Morga, Minor Child, and Rene Venegas Lopez, Individually and as the Administrator of the Estate of Marialy Ruby Venegas Morga Deceased; and Georgina Leticia Venegas, Individually, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.FEDEX GROUND PACKAGE SYSTEM, INC., Ruben's Trucking, LLC a/k/a Ruben Reyes a/k/a Shooter's Express Trucking, Inc., the Estate of Elizabeth Sena Quintana, and M&K's Trucking, Inc., Defendants-Appellants.

NO. A-1-CA-35001

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

Filing Date: February 6, 2018

Certiorari Granted, June 4, 2018, No. S-1-SC-36918

L. Helen Bennett, P.C., L. Helen Bennett, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellee the Estate of Ylairam Morga.

Scherr & Legate, PLLC, James F. Scherr, El Paso, TX, for Appellee Alfredo Morga.

Cervantes Law Firm, P.C., K. Joseph Cervantes, Las Cruces, NM, for Appellee Yahir Morga.

Daniel Anchondo, El Paso, TX, for Appellee the Estate of Marialy Ruby Venegas Morga.

Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A., Edward R. Ricco, Jocelyn Drennan, Jeff Croasdell, Brenda M. Saiz, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellants.

GARCIA, Judge Pro Tem.

{1} This appeal is before us following a jury verdict for more than $165 million to Plaintiffs for wrongful death, personal injury, and loss of consortium claims that arose from a catastrophic automobile accident between a small pickup truck and a FedEx transport tractor-trailer. Defendants assert that the district court erred in denying their motion for a new trial or a remittitur of the damages awarded by the jury. Specifically, Defendants argue that (1) the verdict was not supported by substantial evidence; and (2) the jury's verdict was tainted by passion, prejudice, partiality, sympathy, undue influence, or a mistaken measure of damages. In addition, Defendants argue that the district court erred in awarding prejudgment interest. This case presents an opportunity to address important issues faced by the judicial system—how do appellate courts measure the outer limits of a jury's discretion to award compensatory damages and whether we should utilize mathematic ratios as an acceptable basis to reduce damage awards in large verdict cases. We decline to utilize mathematic ratios as the basis for establishing error by the district court. We affirm the district court's denial of Defendants' two post-trial motions, and accordingly, we affirm the jury's verdict. We also affirm the award of prejudgment interest.

BACKGROUND

{2} On June 22, 2011, at approximately 1:30 a.m., on the interstate between Las Cruces and Deming, New Mexico, a combination tractor-trailer vehicle (the FedEx truck) struck a small pickup truck driven by Marialy Ruby Venegas Morga (Ms. Morga). Accompanying Ms. Morga was her four-year-old daughter, Ylairam Morga (Ylairam), and nineteen-month-old son, Yahir Morga (Yahir). The FedEx truck was operated by FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FedEx) through independent FedEx contractors, and the actual driver for the FedEx contractors was Elizabeth Quintana (Quintana) (FedEx, the FedEx contractors, and Quintana are collectively referred to as Defendants). Ms. Morga was either stopped or barely moving on the right-hand side of her traffic lane when the FedEx truck struck her vehicle from behind at sixty-five miles per hour without slowing. The impact and its resulting injuries were severe, with multiple fatalities occurring. Ms. Morga and Ylairam died, and Yahir was seriously injured. Quintana also died as a result of the accident.

{3} Alfredo Morga, Ms. Morga's spouse, brought suit against Defendants, individually and as personal representative for his daughter, Ylairam, and as next friend for his son, Yahir. Mr. Morga also asserted claims against Defendants for personal injury and wrongful death. Ms. Morga's father, Rene Venegas Lopez, as her personal representative, brought suit against Defendants for wrongful death (Mr. Morga individually and in his representative capacity for both of his children, as well as Mr. Lopez in his capacity as personal representative for Ms. Morga are referred to in this opinion as Plaintiffs). Mr. Lopez and his wife, Georgina Leticia Venegas, also intervened in the lawsuit (Intervenors) and asserted personal claims for loss of consortium resulting from the death of their daughter Ms. Morga. Prior to trial, FedEx stipulated that it would "pay for any damages attributed to [FedEx] and the other named [D]efendants."

{4} At trial, Plaintiffs presented evidence of damages related to the wrongful death, personal injury claims by Plaintiffs and also the loss of consortium claims by Mr. Morga and Intervenors. Plaintiffs also asked the jury to award punitive damages against Defendants. The jury found all Defendants negligent and liable for Plaintiffs' claims. The jury apportioned fault for the accident as follows: FedEx (65 percent), the FedEx contractors and Quintana (10 percent each for a total of 30 percent), and Ms. Morga (5 percent). The jury awarded compensatory damages as follows:

                For the wrongful death of Ylairam                 $61,000,000
                For the wrongful death of Ms. Morga               $32,000,000
                For personal injury and the loss of consortium
                for his mother, to Yahir                          $32,000,000
                For emotional distress, resulting from physical
                and psychological injury, and the loss of
                consortium for his spouse and child
                to Mr. Morga                                      $40,125,000
                For the loss of consortium of his daughter
                to Mr. Lopez                                      $208,000
                For the loss of consortium for her daughter
                to Ms. Venegas                                    $200,000
                

No punitive damages were awarded by the jury.

{5} After the verdict was entered on January 24, 2015, the district court judge presiding over the case was involved in an ex parte conversation with Plaintiffs' counsel regarding potential counsel on appeal. Recognizing that the ex parte conversation could be perceived as improper, the district court judge recused herself. The case was reassigned to Judge Mathew to preside over all the post-trial proceedings.

{6} Defendants moved for a new trial or remittitur of the damages award and argued that the verdict was excessive. The district court denied both motions. The court concluded that there was substantial evidence to support the verdict, that it was not the result of passion, prejudice, a mistaken measure of damages, or other improper factors, and that it would be inappropriate to substitute its judgment for that of the jury. Plaintiffs then proposed a form of judgment that included an award of prejudgment interest. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion and subsequently ruled that, under NMSA 1978, Section 56-8-4(B) (2004), prejudgment interest was warranted at an annual rate of 5 percent. Defendants filed a timely appeal. While the appeal was pending before this Court, Intervenors settled their loss of consortium claims. As a result, we do not address any appellate arguments regarding Intervenors' damage awards and loss of consortium claims.

DISCUSSION

{7} On appeal, Defendants do not assert any issues related to the jury's determination of liability, but only contested the jury's award of compensatory damages and the district court's award of prejudgment interest.

I. Denial of Defendants' Motions for New Trial or Remittitur

A. Standard of Review

{8} We review the district court's denial of Defendants' motions for a new trial or remittitur for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Mann , 2002-NMSC-001, ¶ 17, 131 N.M. 459, 39 P.3d 124 ("[The appellate courts] will not overturn a trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial unless the trial court abused its discretion."); Hanberry v. Fitzgerald , 1963-NMSC-100, ¶ 2, 72 N.M. 383, 384 P.2d 256 (applying an abuse of discretion standard for the review of an appellant's "claim that the verdict [was] excessive, requiring a remittitur or a new trial"); Sandoval v. Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations, Inc. (Jose Sandoval ), 2009-NMCA-095, ¶ 13, 146 N.M. 853, 215 P.3d 791 ("The applicable standard in reviewing the denial of a motion for a new trial or remittitur is [an] abuse of discretion."). "[The] trial court abuses its discretion when its decision is contrary to logic and reason." N.M. Right to Choose/NARAL v. Johnson , 1999-NMSC-028, ¶ 6, 127 N.M. 654, 986 P.2d 450 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see Talbott v. Roswell Hosp. Corp. , 2008-NMCA-114, ¶¶ 29-30, 144 N.M. 753, 192 P.3d 267 (recognizing that a trial court does not abuse its discretion in denying a motion for a new trial unless its decision was "arbitrary, capricious, or beyond reason" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) ). However, even when we review for an abuse of discretion, our review of the application of the law to the facts is conducted de novo. Id. ¶ 29.

{9} Our appellate courts defer to the jury in awarding damages and also to the trial court in its assessment of a motion for new trial or a motion to remit the amount of damages awarded by the jury. See Ennis v. Kmart Corp. , 2001-NMCA-068, ¶ 27, 131 N.M. 32, 33 P.3d 32 ("When a trial court denies a motion for a remittitur, we defer to the trial court's judgment. When the jury makes a determination and the trial court approves, the amount awarded in dollars stands in the strongest position known in the law." (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) ); see also Coates v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , 1999-NMSC-013, ¶ 49, 127 N.M. 47, 976 P.2d 999 (recognizing the appellate court's reliance on the trial court because of its unique position "to observe the witnesses and their demeanor as well as the jurors' attitude during the trial" whereas we review the record cold); Salopek v. Friedman , 2013-NMCA-087, ¶ 30, 308 P.3d 139 ("In determining whether a jury verdict is excessive, we do not reweigh the evidence but determine whether the verdict is excessive as a matter...