Harby v. Florida East Coast Hotel Co.

Citations

• 59 Fla. 280

Syllabus

<p>1. Compensatory damages may be recovered from tbe negligent party for personal injuries and physical pain suffered as well as for expenses and losses incurred by another as a proximate result of a negligent injury. Expenses and losses may be capable of reasonably certain ascertainment, but personal injuries and physical pain cannot be measured by any standard of pecuniary value; and the law. makes it the province of the jury to ascertain the amount of damages to be awarded in the latter classes of cases, subject to such powers of review as are known to the law to prevent abuses of the discretion given to juries.</p> <p>2. The amount of damages awarded by a jury is within their peculiar province and will not ordinarily be disturbed by the trial court or by an appellate court on the ground that the damages allowed are too small, where there is legal evidence to support the finding, unless it clearly appears that some rule of law has been violated or that the jury were not governed by the evidence in fixing the amount .of the damages allowed. But the trial court or the appellate court may ordinarily interfere to prevent injustice that would otherwise be done through an abuse of the proper discretion of the jury in the particular case.</p> <p>3. Conceding that in appropriate proceedings the appellate court may review questions of the inadequacy of compensatory damages awarded in actions cos delicto where the inadequacy relates only to personal injury and physical pain, it does not appear from the evidence that the jury as reasonable men could not have fairly placed upon the injury and suffering shown the compensating value stated in the finding and judgment.</p>