Pederson v. Carrier

[85]

DOOLING, J.

In an action for personal injuries occasioned by his being struck by an automobile driven by one defendant while acting as the employee of the other, plaintiff was awarded $45,000 by the verdict of a jury. A motion for new trial was denied and defendants appeal from the judgment. The sole ground presented on the appeal is that the amount awarded is excessive.

At the time of the casualty plaintiff was 48 years old with an average life expectancy of 22.88 years. (58 C.J.S. 1212.) He had previously been committed to Napa State Hospital for insanity and was discharged in 1937. Following this discharge he worked as a counterman in a San Francisco cafeteria and later as an electrician’s helper. That he was somewhat emotionally unstable is indicated by evidence of temporary periods of hospitalization for minor injuries and intoxication, but between the time of his discharge from Napa State Hospital in 1937 and the date of his injuries which are the subject of the present action he had no recurrence of insanity necessitating his commitment to a state institution.

The injuries for which the verdict was awarded consisted of a severe fracture of the right femur just below the hip joint causing a permanent shortening of the leg by an inch and a half and a recurrence of insanity which necessitated his being committed again as a patient to a state institution. The fracture of the hip joint was reduced by driving a wire through the lower end of the bone to which was attached weights, cords and pulleys to give traction in a Thomas splint and the necessary period of hospitalization covered several months. There is a permanent stiffening of the hip joint which considerably reduces normal abduction, adduction and rotation of the leg and while a lift on the shoe will compensate for the shortening of the leg there will be some postural changes which may result in arthritis in the sacroiliac joints, the lower lumbar vertebrae or back from tilting. The injured leg is also somewhat weaker than before.

The evidence of psychiatric experts was that while a normal man would not have been rendered insane by the accident and resulting injuries, with his background of mental instability the plaintiff was mentally more susceptible and his second attack of insanity was brought on by his injuries and the attendant treatment, confinement and suffering. He was committed for insanity about five months after his accident and at the time of the trial, a year and a half later, he was still