JOHN W. MARTIN, AS TRUSTEE FOR FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
GUS JOHNS, APPELLEE
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A railroad passenger injured at a railroad crossing crossing sued for negligence. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, but the Florida Supreme Court reversed for a new trial on damages, finding the award excessive under the comparative negligence doctrine.
The court held that the directed verdict motions were properly denied because the evidence presented genuine issues of negligence for the jury to determine. The court affirmed that the judge's statement about settlement attempts, while not best practice, did not prejudice either party. However, the court found the damages award excessive under comparative negligence principles and reversed for a new trial on damages.
“The rule is well settled that in passing upon a single instruction such instruction must be considered in the light of all other instructions given and bearing upon the subject and, if when so considered, the law appears to have been fairly presented to the jury, the assignment based on the instruction or charge must fail.”
Establishes the standard for reviewing jury instructions on appeal
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGus Johns was injured in a collision involving a Florida East Coast Railway passenger train at a railroad crossing in Fort Lauderdale. Johns sued the …
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SANDLER, Associate Justice.
Gus Johns, plaintiff in the lower Court, sued the railroad company for in juries sustained by him claimed to have been inflicted by negligent operation of one of its passenger trains. The case went to trial before a jury on the issues made by the complaint and the denial by the defendant of the negligence charged against it. The collision took place at a railroad crossing in the City of Fort Lauderdale. No useful purpose would be served by a recital of the testimony. It is sufficient to say that it contains all of the usual conflicts in the testimony in cases of this kind so as to make it a question for the jury to determine who was negligent. There was no error in the Court’s denial of the motion for directed verdict either at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case or at the close of all the testimony.
The rule is well settled that in passing upon a single instruction such instruction must be considered in the light of all other instructions given and bearing upon the subject and, if when so considered, the law appears to have been fairly presented to the jury, the assignment based on the instruction or charge must fail. It is not necessary that a single instruction contain all the law relating to the particular subject treated therein as each instruction must be considered in connection with all other instructions bearing on the same subject.
It is next contended that when the Judge announced in open Court to the jury panel that there would be a slight delay because counsel for both parties were trying to settle the case it was error to deny the defendant’s motion for a mistrial, it being the appellant’s contention that this was interpreted by the jury as the admission of liability on the part of the defendant in the lower Court. There is nothing in the record to suggest such assumption. It could just as well have been interpreted as a sign of weakness on the part of' the plaintiff. It is true that an offer of compromise made by one party to another is not admissible in evidence, but no such offer was made in the presence of the panel, nor was the panel advised of any such offer. While it is the better practice not to advise the jury of any attempts at settlement, there is nothing in the record to suggest that either party was prejudiced by the statement of the Court.
This brings us to the next assignment of error that the verdict of the jury was excessive under the comparative negligence doctrine. We are convinced from the evidence that there was negligence on the part of both plaintiff and defendant, and while the jury was instructed on the doctrine of comparative negligence, it either did not apply the rule in assessing damages or else awarded more damages than was justified by the evidence.
This cause is reversed for new trial on the question of damages only.
MATHEWS, C. J., and TERRELL and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.
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City OF Coral Gables v. Jordan, 186 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966)…ot be made known to the jury. . See text and cases cited in 4 Wigmore, Evidence § 1061; 31A C.J.S. Evidence § 286. . See Russell v. Shelby Mutual Insurance Co., Fla.App.1961, 128 So. 2d 161: Fla. Stat. § 54.28, F.S.A. . Martin v. Johns, Fla.1955, 78 So. 2d 398. . Ela.Stat. § 54.28, F.S.A. . Food Fair Stores, Inc. v. Trusell, Fla. 1961, 131 So. 2d 730.…
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Martin v. Makris, 101 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958)…rly instructed the jury on the law applicable to the case, in that regard. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Crosby, 53 Fla. 400, 43 So. 318; Martin v. Stone, Fla.1951, 51 So. 2d 33; Dowling v. Loftin, Fla.1954, 72 So. 2d 283; Martin v. Johns, Fla.1955, 78 So. 2d 398. The charges given in this case on the duties and obligations of the parties bearing on negligence,3 sufficiently pre [*176] sented the applicable law, in the light of which it is made to appear that no error was committed by the court’s refusal to…
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Zanetti v. Weissler, 179 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)…ury reveals that the subject was not given undue importance and that the entire instruction must be said to have adequately covered the law on the point of the case. Adams v. Royal Exchange Assur., Fla.1952, 62 So. 2d 591; Martin v. Johns, Fla.1955, 78 So. 2d 398; Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. Lawler, Fla.App.1963, 151 So. 2d 852. Appellant’s second point urges error because the trial court refused her tender of an additional charge when the jury returned with a question. The question presented by the j…
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