Pensacola Sanitarium v. Wilkins
| Decision Date | 20 November 1912 |
| Citation | 60 So. 128,64 Fla. 407 |
| Parties | PENSACOLA SANITARIUM v. WILKINS. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Escambia County; J. Emmett Wolfe, Judge.
Action by Joseph D. Wilkins against the Pensacola Sanitarium. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
Where an injury is a superficial burn, not permanent in its nature, and the admission of mortuary tables in evidence is followed by an excessive verdict, the judgment will be reversed.
COUNSEL Sullivan & Sullivan, of Pensacola, for plaintiff in error.
John P. Stokes and R. P. Reese, both of Pensacola, for defendant in error.
In the circuit court for Escambia county Wilkins recovered judgment for $1,250, with interest from date of suit, against the Pensacola Sanitarium, a corporation, for personal injuries to the plaintiff, whose leg was burned by a hot-water bottle left in plaintiff's bed while he was a patient in the sanitarium. On writ of error, taken by the defendant corporation, it is contended that errors in the proceedings were committed by the trial court, among them being the admission of mortuary tables in evidence, and in not granting a new trial on the grounds that the verdict is excessive and not justified by the evidence.
The injury in this case was a superficial burn several inches long, and perhaps two inches wide, between the knee and the ankle. It is apparent from the testimony that the injury is not permanent or of a very serious nature, and the admission of the mortuary tables in evidence was well calculated under the circumstances to influence the jury in returning a verdict that is clearly excessive in amount.
The judgment is reversed.
TAYLOR, J., absent on account of illness, concurred in the opinion as prepared.
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...mortality tables in a personal injury case where there is no evidence of a permanent injury is reversible error. Pensacola Sanitarium v. Wilkins, 64 Fla. 407, 60 So. 128 (1912); Foster v. Village of Bellaire, 127 Mich. 13, 86 N.W. 383 (1901); Welstead v. Jim Ryan Construction Co., 160 Neb. ......
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