eBook details
- Title: Baumgarten v. Jones
- Author : Supreme Court of Wisconsin
- Release Date : January 02, 1965
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
This action arose out of an automobile collision which occurred November 12, 1960. At the trial in January, 1963, the jury returned a verdict apportioning 15 percent of the causal negligence to the plaintiff and 85 percent to the defendants. The jury awarded the plaintiff $4,500 damages for personal injuries. The court had found his damages for ""automobile and property damage, for expenses of hired help, for wage loss and for hospital and medical expenses"" to be $1,241.57. On motions after verdict, the trial court reserved its ruling on damages but granted defendants' renewed motion for a directed verdict on the ground that plaintiff's negligence was at least as great as defendants'. Plaintiff appealed and this court reversed the trial court and ordered judgment on the verdict unless it be modified or set aside on other grounds. Baumgarten v. Jones (1963), 21 Wis. 2d 467, 124 N.W.2d 609. Upon remand, pursuant to reserved motions, the trial court found the award of $4,500 for personal injuries to be excessive but that ""the excessiveness of the award was not due to the perversity or prejudice of the jury nor as a result of error occurring during the course of the trial,"" and that the award was not supported by the evidence. The trial court determined the reasonable amount of the plaintiff's damages for personal injuries to be $3,000, and ordered a new trial on this issue of damages unless the plaintiff elected to accept the $3,000 within ten days.