Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. Lassiter

Citations

• 58 Fla. 234

Syllabus

<p>Personal Injury — Master's Liability to Servant InJURED BY NEGLIGENCE OF FELLOW SERVANT CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTE-SPECIAL YeRDICTS-DAMAGES for Diminution of Future Earning Capacity— Agency.</p> <p>1. Section 3150 General Statutes of 1906, that imposes liability upon railroad companies for injury to their employees, who are free from fault, through the negligence of co-employees, does not deny to such companies due process of law, or the equal protection of the law, and is not violative of the Fourteenth A-mendment to the Federal Constitution.</p> <p>2. Agency cannot be established by the declaration of the supposed agent.</p> <p>3. In the absence in Florida of a statute on the subject of special verdicts, our trial courts are not justified in directing the jury to find a special verdict, though they may, in their discretion, in a proper case recommend one; but the jury has the right to decline finding any other than a general verdict. The appellate court will not review or reverse such trial courts for their refusal to exercise their discretion in such cases.</p> <p>4. In cases where a plaintiff’s prospective losses in the future during his life expectancy from the diminished earning capacity consequent upon his injuries is made a ground of recovery, the jury should be instructed that in estimating such prospective future damages resulting from the diminished earning capacity, they should reduce such damages to their present value, and that such present value thereof only should be included .in their verdict.</p>