In Flores v. Parkchester Preservation Company, L.P ., Florencia Flores fractured her elbow when she fell on Parkchester Preservation Company's (PPC) property and filed suit in the Bronx County Supreme Court to recover damages for her personal injuries.
A jury awarded Flores just over $5.7 million for past and future pain and suffering, lost earnings, and medical expenses. Finding the award excessive, the Supreme Court granted PPC's post-trial motion for a new trial, unless Flores accepted a reduced award of about $1.7 million and $250,000 for loss of enjoyment of life.
While the Appellate Division, First Department, agreed that the original reward was excessive, it modified the outcome even further.
First, the AD1 vacated the award for "loss of enjoyment of life." Not only did the jury not grant such an award, but the law is clear that loss of enjoyment of life is "a factor to be considered by the jury in assessing damages," not a separate and distinct recovery. The AD1 also modified the amount of other damages awarded. While the $1 million for pain and suffering initially awarded by the jury was inappropriate because Flores's fracture was "distinguishable from the more serious injuries involved in the cases upon which she relie[d]," the AD1 thought the trial court's proposed reduction was "excessively sharp," and suggested that $350,000 would be more appropriate.
The $1 million dollar award for lost earnings was also untenable because it was based on Flores's total inability to work when Flores's own vocational rehabilitation expert admitted that Flores had lost about fifty percent of her work life. As a result, the AD1 discounted the economic projections and the speculative nature of pay raises, and held that a damage award of $425,000 for lost earnings was much more reasonable under the circumstances.
Finally, the AD1 found the jury's award of nearly $2.7 million for medical expenses to be contrary to the weight of the evidence, since there was considerable overlap and no testimony by a medical professional regarding the actual costs. As a result, $250,000 was found to be more reasonable.
Don't know about you, but we think a $4.675 million hit is quite a fractured result.
For a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Flores v. Parkchester Preservation Company, L.P