Burris v. Bowe's Funeral Home, Ltd.

204 So. 2d 257, 1967 Fla. App. LEXIS 4110
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 15, 1967
DocketNo. 67-88
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 204 So. 2d 257 (Burris v. Bowe's Funeral Home, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burris v. Bowe's Funeral Home, Ltd., 204 So. 2d 257, 1967 Fla. App. LEXIS 4110 (Fla. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

HOBSON, Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant brings this timely filed appeal from an order granting a motion for new trial on the issue of damages. The plaintiff sustained injuries as a result of the defendant’s ambulance colliding into the rear of the plaintiff’s car. After a full presentation of the evidence, which consisted largely of detailed medical testimony concerning the past, present and future physical condition of the plaitiff, the jury on December 14, 1966 returned a judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of $38,000.

[258]*258The trial judge granted a new trial on the question of damages only, stating:

“1. That by no reasonable view of the evidence, construed most favorably to the plaintiff, can the amount of damages in the verdict be said to comport with the manifest weight of the evidence adduced at the trial of this cause.
“2. That after presiding over the entire trial seeing and listening to all of the persons who testified, reviewing the evidence, relating to damages, all- in a view construed best to the interests of the plaintiff, the amount of damages in this verdict shocked the conscience of this Court.”

The order appealed from may be reviewed by this court on the record for the purpose of ascertaining whether the exercise of judicial discretion implicit in the order has been abused and if it is apparent from the record that such discretion has been abused, it is the duty of this court to set aside the order of the trial judge granting the new trial. Russo v. Clark, Fla.1962, 147 So.2d 1.

The judge also stated in his order granting a new trial, “there was no testimony of need of future medical treatment and no testimony on which this court felt it could instruct on loss of earning capacity and no such instructions voere given.” (emphasis ours)

It is true that the able trial judge did not give instructions on future medical treatment and loss of future earning capacity. It is also true that counsel for the plaintiff failed to object to the judge’s refusal to so instruct on these elements of damage.

After carefully reviewing the record in this case, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in view of the fact that the jury, under the instructions as given them by the trial judge, could not take into consideration, in awarding damages to the plaintiff, loss of future earning capacity.

We cannot consider for reversal on this appeal the correctness of the trial judge’s refusal to instruct the jury on the loss of plaintiff’s future earning capacity, as no objection to such refusal was made.

However, in view of the fact that a new trial on the issue of damages only will be had herein, we hold that the testimony adduced at the trial of this cause would require an instruction on loss of future earning capacity. Dr. Moore, a qualified orthopedic surgeon, testified as follows:

“Q Are the complaints which she has given to you, and your findings on X-ray examination, are they painful in your experience ?
A They are painful in the experience of patients that I have seen, yes.
Q Doctor, do you have an opinion you can express with reasonable medical certainty as to whether Mary Burris will, in the future, continue to suffer pain as a result of her injuries ?
A Yes, she will.
* * * =t= * *
Q Doctor, can you say with reasonable medical certainty whether Mary Burris will have any permanent dis-bility as a result of her injuries?
A Yes.
Q What, sir?
A She will. She does. And she has.
Q Can you give us the benefit of any percentage in disability that she is going to have permanently ?
A I would say that she has at least 20 percent incapacity from this injury.
* * * * * *
[259]*259Q Now, you mentioned awhile ago you would expect her to have some pain in the future. I take it you would have no way of projecting how far in the future this pain would continue ?
A She will have it the rest of her life if she exerts even to a moderate degree in the form of lifting, stooping, repeated bending, and so forth.”

In addition to Dr. Moore’s testimony, the plaintiff testified concerning her employment prior to her injuries resulting from the accident herein involved, as follows:

“Q When did you first go out, and with whom did you first get a job outside of the home?
A Ocean Prgducts.
Q And how long did you work at Ocean Products ?
A Five years.
Q And what were you doing at Ocean Products, Mary?
A I packed shrimp in the boxes, and I ■ laid it on trays which you lay on trays with your hands. You lay shrimp on the trays, and I weighed the shrimp on — it was a scale like.
Q I see. And you worked at Ocean Products doing that for approximately 5 years?
A Yes.
Q Did you enjoy your job?
A Yes.
Q Now, did you change jobs from Ocean Products to.somewhere else?
A Yes, to Shoreline.
Q Why?
A I wanted to go to work there because Ocean Products was moving to Dover.
Q So you went to Shoreline Products. What type of business was that?
A That is the same thing as Ocean Products. It is a seafood place.
Q What were your duties there ?

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Related

Rizzo v. State Ex Rel. City of Pompano Beach
396 So. 2d 869 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1981)
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Bluebook (online)
204 So. 2d 257, 1967 Fla. App. LEXIS 4110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burris-v-bowes-funeral-home-ltd-fladistctapp-1967.