Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Learmonth

• Decision Date: 23 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2011–FC–00143–SCT.,2011–FC–00143–SCT.
• Citation: 95 So.3d 633
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: SEARS, ROEBUCK & COMPANY v. Lisa LEARMONTH.

95 So.3d 633

SEARS, ROEBUCK & COMPANY

v.Lisa LEARMONTH.

No. 2011–FC–00143–SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 23, 2012.

Gregory E. Ostfeld, Francis A. Citera, Tanisha R. Jones, H. Gray Laird, III, attorneys for appellant.

Robert Kevin Hamilton, Joe Clay Hamilton, Robert S. Peck, Meridian, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. In August 2005, Lisa Learmonth sustained severe injuries in an auto/truck collision with a vehicle owned by Sears, Roebuck & Company (“Sears”) and driven by its employee. Learmonth filed suit against Sears in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi—Eastern Division (“district court”). The jury returned a unanimous general verdict for Learmonth in the amount of $4 million. The “Special Interrogatory and Jury Verdict” form submitted to the jury did not instruct the jury to itemize the compensatory damages into separate categories.

¶ 2. In Sears' post-trial “Motion for New Trial, or Alternatively, for a Remittitur” (“Motion for New Trial”), it posited that $2,218,905.60 of the jury verdict was for noneconomic damages. Learmonth used that same figure in post-trial responses. Sears' figure was accepted by both the district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) in their respective analyses. Regarding Sears' “Motion for New Trial,” the district court held, in pertinent part, that it “ cannot conclude that the jury verdict is so excessive, so ‘contrary to right reason,’ as to warrant a new trial or remittitur.” (Emphasis added.) Nonetheless, based on Mississippi Code Section 11–1–60(2)(b), the district court “remitt[ed]” $2,218,905.60 of the verdict to $1 million, and entered judgment for $2,781,094.40. SeeMiss.Code Ann. § 11–1–60(2)(b) (Supp.2011).

¶ 3. Sears appealed that judgment to the Fifth Circuit. Learmonth cross-appealed and challenged the constitutionality of Section 11–1–60(2)(b) under the separation-of-powers and right-to-jury-trial provisions of the Mississippi Constitution. SeeMiss. Const. art. 1, §§ 1, 2; art. 3, § 31 (1890). The Fifth Circuit found that this was an “important question of state law ... for which there is no controlling precedent from the Supreme Court of Mississippi.” ¹Learmonth, 631 F.3d at 739. Pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure 20, the Fifth Circuit certified the following question to this Court, “[i]s Section 11–1–60(2) of the Mississippi Code, which generally limits non-economic damages to $1 million in civil cases, constitutional?” Id. at 739–40.

¶ 4. Following certification, this Court handed down its decision in InTown Lessee Associates, LLC v. Howard, 67 So.3d 711 (Miss.2011). In InTown Lessee, two plaintiffs each were awarded $2 million general jury verdicts. See id. at 713, 717. On appeal, the defendant (InTown) faulted the trial court, arguing it should have provided the jury with “a verdict form that would require the jury to segregate economic from non-economic damages[,] enabling the trial judge to perform her statutory duty to apply the [$1 million limitation] on non-economic damages.” Id. at 722. Yet InTown, like Sears in this case, “did not object to the jury instruction on the form of the verdict, and ... did not request a jury instruction that the form of the verdict should segregate economic damages from noneconomic damages.” Id. We found that InTown “cannot complain on appeal that such an instruction was not given.” Id. at 724 (citing King v. State, 857 So.2d 702, 720 (Miss.2003)). This Court added that it would “not engage in speculation or conjecture, and it would be nothing more than supposition for us to try to guess what amount the jury awarded in economic damages and what amount it awarded in noneconomic damages.” Id. at 724. Accordingly, this Court unanimously affirmed the judgment of the trial court.²See id.

¶ 5. Thereafter, we entered an order for supplemental briefing in the case sub judice.³ It stated, in pertinent part, that:

Section 11–1–60(2)(b) provides that “(b) In any civil action filed on or after September 1, 2004, other than those actions described in paragraph (a) of this subsection, in the event the trier of fact finds the defendant liable, theyshall not award the plaintiff more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) for noneconomic damages.” Miss.Code Ann. § 11–1–60(2)(b) (Supp.2011) (emphasis added). In the case sub judice, the record reflects that “the jury found Sears liable for Learmonth's injuries and awarded her $4 million in compensatory damages. The verdict on its face did not divide the award into separate categories....” [Learmonth, 631 F.3d at 730] (emphasis added). However, Sears and Learmonth have stipulated that the total award included $2,218,905[.60] in noneconomicdamages. See id. at [739]. Supplemental briefing is required to address the following issue:

(1) In light of the language in [Section] 11–1–60(2)(b) that “the trier of fact” cannot “award the plaintiff” more than $1 million for noneconomic damages, this Court's recent pronouncement on the effect of failing to request a jury instruction that segregated economic damages from noneconomic damages [InTown Lessee ], and the statement that the jury did not divide the award into separate categories to distinguish between economic and noneconomic damages, what fact(s) and/or legal authority exist for this Court to accept a stipulation regarding the amount of noneconomic damages found by the jury?

(Emphasis in original.)

¶ 6. In supplemental briefing, the parties disputed the existence, vel non, of a post-trial stipulation regarding noneconomic damages. On that point, no one alleges that a written or oral stipulation was entered before the jury completed its deliberations and rendered its verdict. The record reveals just the opposite. The “Pretrial Order” provided only that the following facts “are established by the pleadings or by stipulation or admission”:

[t]he accident occurred at the intersection of Highway 15 and Highway 485 on August 26, 2005. [Learmonth] was operating her green Chevrolet automobile at the time of the accident. [The Sears employee] was acting as the agent and employee of [Sears]. [Learmonth] was taken from the scene of the accident to Neshoba General Hospital, and was thereafter air-lifted via helicopter to University Medical Center, where she was hospitalized for several days as a result of injuries she sustained in the subject accident.

The “Pretrial Order” added that the “contested issues of fact” included “[t]he nature, extent, duration and cause of [Learmonth's] alleged injuries.” At trial, Sears stridently contested not only damages, but also liability. The jury was then properly instructed, which included the following:

any statements ... or arguments made by lawyers are not evidence in the case. [ ⁴] ... [I]t is your ... interpretation of the evidence that controls in the case.[ ⁵]

...

[Y]ou are permitted to draw such reasonable inferences from the testimony and exhibits as you feel are justified in the light of common experience. In other words, you may make deductions and reach conclusions which reason and common sense lead you to draw from the facts which have been established by the testimony and evidence in the case.

Now, I have said that you can consider all of the evidence. This does not mean, however, that you must accept all of the evidence as true or accurate. You are the sole judges ... of ... the weight to be given to ... testimony.

...

You may ... accept or reject the testimony of any witness in whole or in part.

...

[In] arriving at [Learmonth's] damages you must determine an amount that is fair compensation for all of [Learmonth's] damages.

...

If you decide to award compensatory damages, you should be guided by dispassionate common sense. Computing damages may be difficult, but you must not let that difficulty lead you to engage in arbitrary guesswork. On the other hand, the law does not require that the plaintiff prove the amount of her losses with mathematical precision but only with as much definiteness and accuracy as the circumstances permit.

You must use sound discretion in affixing an award of damages and in drawing reasonable inferences where you find them appropriate from the ... evidence.

As to the “elements of damages,” the jury specifically was instructed that Learmonth had incurred “past medical expenses” of $90,098.42. But it was further instructed to determine the following, as “you find them proved by a preponderance of the evidence”: “[m]edical expenses which you believe from the evidence that [Learmonth] will likely incur in the future discounted to net present value[,]” and “[l]oss of future wage-earning capacity, ... discounted to net present value.” ⁶ Before the jury began its deliberations, a special interrogatory and verdict was requested, but it did not request a finding to establish as fact the matter now at issue, i.e., a jury finding of noneconomic damages in an amount in excess of $1 million. Therefore, while Learmonth curiously did acquiesce to Sears' presumptive calculations in her post-trial filings, we find no proof that the parties entered into a binding stipulation. Moreover, neither party requested a special verdict segregating economic from noneconomic damages, which may be requested under Rule 49 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. SeeFed.R.Civ.P. 49. Compare withMiss. R. Civ. P. 49.

¶ 7. After considering the briefs and arguments and reviewing the entire record presented, we conclude that, because the “trier of fact” (the jury) entered a general verdict of $4 million, we cannot know with any degree of assurance that “they” (the jury) awarded Learmonth more than $1 million for noneconomic damages. Miss.Code Ann. § 11–1–60(2)(b). Thus, under InTown Lessee, our ruling upon the constitutionality of Section 11–1–60(2)(b) in this case would require engaging in “speculation[,]” “conjecture [,]” “supposition[,]” and...