Rosado v. Plaza Las Americas, Inc.

172 F.R.D. 15, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6152, 1997 WL 228851
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedApril 25, 1997
DocketCivil No. 96-1730 (JP)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 172 F.R.D. 15 (Rosado v. Plaza Las Americas, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosado v. Plaza Las Americas, Inc., 172 F.R.D. 15, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6152, 1997 WL 228851 (prd 1997).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PIERAS, Senior District Judge.

The Court has before it plaintiffs’ motion for a partial new tidal as to damages and their motion in relation thereto (docket Nos. 30 and 31). Defendants have not opposed plaintiffs’ motion.

I. INTRODUCTION

In this tort action under P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31, § 5141 (1990), plaintiffs Edwin Rosa-do, his wife Magaly Santiago and their conjugal partnership sought damages allegedly caused when Mr. Rosado fell on a stairway at Plaza Las Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 1, 1996, at approximately 9:00 p.m. Plaintiffs alleged that the fall was caused by the lack of lighting in the stairwell. Codefendants admitted that the overhead light was not lit but alleged there was no causal relationship between the lack of lighting and the fall, and therefore they were not liable. Defendants also raised the issue of comparative negligence. Subject matter jurisdiction is based on the diverse citizenship of the parties and the amount in controversy. 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

The case was tried to a jury on March 24-26, 1997. The jury returned a verdict finding that Plaza Las Americas had acted negligently and that this negligence was the proximate cause of injuries suffered by coplaintiffs Edwin Rosado and Magaly Santiago (docket No. 26). The jury assessed damages in the amount of $20,000.00 as compensation for Mr. Rosado’s damages and $3,000.00 for those sustained by Ms. Santiago. The jury further found that Edwin Rosado acted negligently in the manner in which he descended the stairs and assessed the comparative negligence of defendant and Edwin Rosado at fifty percent (50%) each. After incorporating the parties’ stipulation regarding damages suffered by the conjugal partnership for medical expenses, and reducing the damage awards to reflect the finding of comparative negligence, the Court entered a final judgment (docket No. 27) for Edwin Rosado to have and recover $10,000.00 from codefendants Plaza Las Americas and Universal Insurance Company, jointly and severally; for coplaintiff Magaly Santiago to have and re[17]*17cover $1,500.00 from codefendants Plaza Las Americas and Universal Insurance Company, jointly and severally; and for their conjugal partnership to have and recover $238.00 from codefendants Plaza Las Americas and Universal Insurance Company, jointly and severally.

II. STANDARD FOR NEW TRIAL PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 59

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59 provides, inter alia, that a new trial may be granted on all or part of the issues tried in an action for which there has been a trial by jury for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law in the courts of the United States. A trial judge cannot “displace a jury’s verdict merely because he disagrees with it or would have found otherwise in a bench trial.” Milone v. Moceri Family, Inc., 847 F.2d 35, 37 (1st Cir.1988). Nor may a trial judge order a new trial because a contrary verdict may have been equally — or even more easily — supportable on the evidence. Freeman v. Package Mach. Co., 865 F.2d 1331, 1333 (1st Cir.1988). Rather, the court may order a new trial only where the jury’s verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence such that upholding the verdict will result in a miscarriage of justice. Conway v. Electro Switch Corp., 825 F.2d 593, 598-99 (1st Cir.1987). The district court has broad legal authority to determine whether a jury’s verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence. Vda. de Pérez v. Hospital del Maestro, 910 F.2d 1004, 1006 (1st Cir.1990). Absent error of law, the judge’s prerogative to set aside a verdict crystallizes only if “it is quite clear that the jury has reached a seriously erroneous result.” Id. (quoting Borrás v. Sea-Land Serv. Inc., 586 F.2d 881, 887 (1st Cir.1978)). The^arty who contests the sufficiency of a jury’s award of damages in a personal injury case bears a particularly heavy burden since “[translating legal damage into money damages — especially in cases which involve few significant items of measurable economic loss — is a matter peculiarly within a jury’s ken.” Milone, 847 F.2d at 37 (quoting Wagenmann v. Adams, 829 F.2d 196, 200-01 (1st Cir.1987)). A jury verdict should be validated if after scanning the evidence in the light most congenial to the nonmovant, the verdict does not exceed or fall below any rational appraisal or estimate of the damages that could be based on the evidence before the jury. Id. at 37-38.

III. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs seek a new trial as to damages only, on the ground that the damages awarded were so inadequate as to “shock the judicial conscience.” Plaintiffs assert that the total award of $11,738.00 is an absurdly low sum that requires judicial intervention to prevent a miscarriage of justice.

Plaintiffs err in looking to plaintiffs’ total recovery of $11,738.00 as the benchmark for determining whether the damages award fell below any rational estimate of the damages based on the evidence. The jury appraised Mr. Rosado’s damages at $20,-000.00 and Ms. Santiago’s at $3,000.00, although these amounts were reduced by the jury’s determination that Mr. Rosado acted negligently in descending the stairs. The Court must look to the jury’s assessment of damages before the reduction for Mr. Rosa-do’s comparative negligence in determining whether a new trial is warranted.

The parties stipulated to the amount of plaintiffs’ medical expenses and did not seek damages for lost earnings. Therefore, the jury was limited to assessing damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life suffered by plaintiffs as a result of Mr. Rosado’s physical injuries. Plaintiffs sought to prove that Mr. Rosado was permanently injured as a result of the fall while defendants contended that he underwent medical treatment for a broken wrist for approximately four months and suffered no further consequences. Both parties offered the testimony of expert medical witnesses regarding the nature and extent of Mr. Rosado’s physical injuries. We scan the evidence relating to damages in the light most congenial to the defendants.

Mr. Rosado testified that immediately after the fall he was taken unconscious to the hospital, where he received sutures for a cut on his forehead and pain medication. The next day X-rays were taken of his left wrist [18]*18and a cast was applied, which he wore for approximately three months. Mr. Rosado testified that he underwent 18 physical therapy sessions after removal of the cast, although cross-examination revealed that he produced receipts for only 13 sessions. These physical therapy sessions lasted approximately 2-3 weeks.

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172 F.R.D. 15, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6152, 1997 WL 228851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosado-v-plaza-las-americas-inc-prd-1997.