ITT Hartford Ins. Co. of the SE v. Owens

Summary

The Florida Supreme Court held that when a trial court grants an additur under section 768.043, Florida Statutes, the adversely affected party must be offered the alternative of a new trial. Because the dispute concerned only the present-value calculation for future medical expenses and the verdict used special interrogatories, the Court directed that the new trial be limited to future medical damages. The Court quashed the Third District's decision affirming the trial court.

Holdings

1. When a trial court grants an additur under section 768.043, Florida Statutes, the party adversely affected by the additur is entitled to reject it and receive the alternative of a new trial on damages.
2. When the record and special verdict show that the error affected only a discrete item of damages, the alternative new trial may be limited to that item rather than all damages.
3. The appellate court must review the trial court's order under an abuse-of-discretion reasonableness standard and may not substitute its judgment for that of the trial court or jury.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a party adversely affected by an additur under section 768.043, Florida Statutes, must be given the option of a new trial on damages.
2. Whether the new trial should encompass all damages or may be limited to the discrete issue of future medical expenses when the error affected only that item.
3. Whether the district court applied the proper standard of review to the trial court's ruling concerning the additur and new trial.

Disposition

quashed