Belyew v. United Parcel Service

SPENCE, J.

Plaintiff, a sergeant of police employed by the city of Oakland, sought damages for injuries sustained by him in an accident alleged to have been caused by the negligence of defendants. The city of Oakland filed its complaint in intervention seeking the damages which it had sustained by reason of said accident. A jury trial was had and a verdict was returned awarding damages to plaintiff in the sum of $2,460 and awarding damages to plaintiff in intervention in the sum of $3,702.63. Both plaintiff and plaintiff in intervention were dissatisfied with the amounts awarded. Both made motions for a new trial and an order was made by the trial court granting said motions “upon the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdicts rendered in the above entitled action.” Defendants appeal from said order.

At the opening of the trial, defendants admitted liability and no question of liability is presented on this appeal. The briefs of the parties are devoted entirely to a discussion of the extent of the damages suffered and a discussion of the question of the propriety or impropriety of the trial court’s order granting a new trial because of the alleged inadequacy of the damages awarded.

At the outset, it should be stated that when a trial court grants a motion for a new trial because of the inadequacy of the damages awarded, it acts upon the broad ground of the “Insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict” (Code of Civil Procedure, section 657, subd. 6), and its power to grant such motion is not limited to those cases in which the amount awarded is so inadequate that it shocks the conscience and raises an inference of passion or prejudice on the part of the jury.

(Hoffart

v.

Honig,

41 Cal. App. (2d) 271 [106 Pac. (2d) 630];

Hoffmann

v.

Lane,

11 Cal. App. (2d) 655 [54 Pac. (2d) 477]; Peri v.

Culley,

119 Cal. App. 117 [6 Pac. (2d) 86].) On the contrary, it is the duty of the trial

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