Deligans v. Ace American Insurance

86 So. 3d 109, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 1244, 2012 WL 716388, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 261
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 7, 2012
DocketNo. 11-1244
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 86 So. 3d 109 (Deligans v. Ace American Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deligans v. Ace American Insurance, 86 So. 3d 109, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 1244, 2012 WL 716388, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 261 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

GENOVESE, Judge.

l;In this personal injury action, Plaintiffs, Sonja Deligans and Timothy Deli-gans, Jr., appeal the jury’s award of general and special damages. Defendants, Ace American Insurance Company, Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Company, LLC, and Christopher Brown, answered the appeal seeking a review of certain evidentiary rulings made by the trial court. For the following reasons, we affirm as amended.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 10, 2008, Sonja Deligans was involved in an automobile accident in Alexandria, Louisiana, with Christopher Brown, who was driving a vehicle owned by Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Company, LLC (Coca-Cola). Mrs. Deligans and her husband, Timothy Deligans, Jr., filed suit against Mr. Brown, Coca-Cola, and its insurer, Ace American Insurance Company (collectively Ace American). Ace American stipulated to liability, and the matter proceeded to trial by jury on damages alone.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mrs. Deligans, finding that the subject accident caused her personal injury and awarding her the following damages:

Past physical pain and suffering $ 9,000.00
Future physical pain and suffering $ 3,000.00
Past mental pain and suffering $ 9,000.00
Future mental pain and suffering $ 600.00
Past disability $ 0.00
Future disability $ 0.00
[112]*112Past medical expenses $38,043.62
Future medical expenses $ 1,500.00
Past loss of enjoyment of life $ 6,000.00
19 Future loss of enjoyment of life $ 1,200.00

The jury also awarded Mr. Deligans $1,500.00 for loss of consortium.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

On appeal, Mrs. Deligans asserts that the jury erred in awarding inadequate general and special damages. In its Answer to Appeal, Ace American contends that the trial court made evidentiary rulings which were contrary to law.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

General Damages

Mrs. Deligans asserts on appeal that the general damages awarded by the jury fail to adequately compensate her for her injuries. Additionally, she asserts that the amount of future medical expenses awarded by the jury was an abuse of its discretion. In reviewing the jury’s awards in this case, we are mindful of the instruction provided by our supreme court.

It is well-settled that a judge or jury is given great discretion in its assessment of quantum, both general and special damages. Louisiana Civil Code article 2324.1 provides: “In the assessment of damages in cases of offenses, quasi offenses, and quasi contracts, much discretion must be left to the judge or jury.” Furthermore, the assessment of quantum, or the appropriate amount of damages, by a trial judge or jury is a determination of fact, one entitled to great deference on review. Wainwright v. Fontenot, 00-0492, p. 6 (La.10/17/00), 774 So.2d 70, 74.

Guillory v. Lee, 09-75, p. 14 (La.6/26/09), 16 So.3d 1104, 1116. The supreme court, in Guillory, went on to state:

Because the discretion vested in the trier of fact is so great, and even vast, an appellate court should rarely disturb an award on review. Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., et al., 623 So.2d 1257, 1261 (La.1993), reh'g denied, 10/7/93.
The role of an appellate court in reviewing a general damages award, one 'which may not be fixed with pecuniary exactitude, is not to decide what it considers to be an appropriate award, but rather to review the exercise of discretion by the trier of fact. This court has long held true to the following principle:
[s[b]efore a Court of Appeal can disturb an award made by a [factfinder,] the record must clearly reveal that the trier of fact abused its discretion in making its award. Only after making the finding that the record supports that the lower court abused its much discretion can the appellate court disturb the award, and then only to the extent of lowering it (or raising it) to the highest (or lowest) point which is reasonably within the discretion afforded that court.
Wainwright, 00-0492, p. 6, 774 So.2d at 74 (quoting Coco v. Winston Indus., Inc., 341 So.2d 332, 334 (La.1977) (internal citations omitted)). See also Miller v. LAMMICO, 07-1352, p. 28 (La.1/16/08), 973 So.2d 693, 711 (stating that an appellate court may disturb a damages award only after an articulated analysis of the facts discloses an abuse of discretion and citing Theriot v. Allstate Ins. Co., 625 So.2d 1337, 1340 (La.1993)); Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 623 So.2d 1257, 1261 (La.1993); Reck v. Stevens, 373 So.2d 498, 501 (La.1979). Furthermore, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844 (La.[113]*1131989). Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Id. (citing Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330, 1333 (La.1978) and Watson v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967 (La.1985)). Moreover, on review, an appellate court must be cautious not to re-weigh the evidence or to substitute its own factual findings just because it would have decided the case differently. Perkins [v. Entergy Corp., 00-1372, p. 9 (La.3/23/01), 782 So.2d 606, 612] (citing Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Department Ambulance Service, 93-3099, 93-3110, 93-3112, p. 8 (La.7/5/94), 639 So.2d 216, 221). Reasonable persons frequently disagree about the measure of damages in a particular ease. “It is only when the award is, in either direction, beyond that which a reasonable trier of fact could assess for the effects of the particular injury to the particular plaintiff under the particular circumstances that the appellate court should increase or reduce the award.” Youn, 623 So.2d at 1261.
Special damages are those which have a “ready market value,” such that the amount of damages theoretically may be determined with relative certainty, including medical expenses and lost wages. Kaiser v. Hardin, 06-2092, p. 11 (La.4/11/07), 953 So.2d 802, 810 (per curiam) (citing McGee v. AC and S, Inc., 05-1036 (La.7/10/06), 933 So.2d 770). An appellate court, in reviewing a jury’s factual conclusions with regard to special damages, must satisfy a two-step process based on the record as a whole: there must be no reasonable factual basis for the trial court’s conclusions, and the finding must be clearly wrong. Kaiser, 06-2092 at p. 11-12, 953 So.2d at 810 (citing Guillory v. Ins. Co. of North America, 96-1084 (La.4/8/97), 692 So.2d 1029).

Guillory, 16 So.3d at 1117-18.

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86 So. 3d 109, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 1244, 2012 WL 716388, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deligans-v-ace-american-insurance-lactapp-2012.