MIAMI (Legal Newsline) – Royal Caribbean Cruises might yet shrink a $20 million verdict against it in a lawsuit brought by an employee whose hand was crushed in a door and subsequently complained of chronic pain but has since been filmed using it to perform everyday activities.
That’s because the Miami trial judge, Reemberto Diaz, failed to properly consider the company’s arguments that the verdict was totally out of line with other cases alleging similar injuries and was the result of unfair juror passion, an appeals court has ruled.
Diaz simply stated that he believed in the jury’s role in determining damages and did not have enough of a grasp on the type of injury alleged by Lisa Spearman to reduce their verdict.
The Florida Third District Court of Appeal said this reasoning was not sufficient to reject Royal Caribbean’s motion for remittitur of damages and ordered Diaz to reconsider it.
“We have reviewed the transcript of the hearing on the motion for remittitur, and it is clear that, despite being required to consider the factors set forth… when ruling on Royal Caribbean’s motion for remittitur, the trial court failed to do so,” Judge Eric Hendon wrote.
A semi-watertight door shut on Spearman’s hand when control of it was taken by the bridge. She’s been diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Her lawyers at Colson Hicks and Meister Law put on an expert with a safer alternative design for the door that he didn’t come up with until after Spearman’s incident.
Judge Diaz allowed his testimony but the Third District ruled he shouldn’t have because affidavits showed there has never been any testing of the prototype.
Spearman’s lawyers also argued her CRPS has spread to other parts of her body and causes extreme sensitivity to her hand to the point that a breeze can cause pain. They also claimed a change in the skin temperature requires her to wear a glove on her right arm, which she did while on the stand.
Royal Caribbean had submitted surveillance footage of her grocery shopping, carrying her children, using her cell phone and other daily activities without the glove. However, the jury wasn’t fazed by it, and awarded her $6 million for past pain and suffering, $6 million for future pain and suffering, $7 million for future medical expenses and $1.3 million for lost earnings and lost earning capacity – a total of $20.3 million.
Royal Caribbean asked for remittitur to $4.46 million. It presented case history that the highest verdict involving fractures, CRPS and PTSD was $4.97 million and that verdicts as high as Spearman’s usually involved amputation, severe burns, brain damage, paraplegia and quadriplegia, among other serious conditions.
The surveillance footage showed Spearman is “living her life, enjoying her life with her family,” the company said.
To all of these arguments, Judge Diaz responded: “I am a firm believer of the right to a trial by jury. I am a firm believer of the jurors’ work. I am – I don’t have a sufficient grasp of the CRPS syndrome to pass judgment on it.”
Diaz reduced the verdict by only $833,533 for future medical expenses and told the parties to take it or appeal. Royal Caribbean appealed.