VICTOR W. FIRMANI AND VANDA FIRMANI APPELLANTS,
v.
SUSAN C. GRANT, ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES
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The court held that the trial court did not commit reversible error by refusing to include a permanent injury threshold interrogatory on the verdict form.
Plaintiffs appealed a jury verdict in an automobile negligence case, arguing the trial court erred by not including an interrogatory on the verdict fo…
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PER CURIAM.
Victor W. and Vanda Firmani have appealed a final judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of Susan C. Grant, plaintiff below, in an automobile negligence case. The issue on appeal is whether the lower court erred in refusing to include on the verdict form an interrogatory to determine whether the plaintiff met the “permanent injury” threshold of Florida’s no-fault law. § 627.737(2), Fla. Stat. (1995). The question of permanency was an issue in the case.
It is clear that the trial court possesses exceptionally broad discretion in deciding whether to include an interrogatory in the verdict form1 and that the omission in this case was not reversible error. Nevertheless, this is the first time we have seen a situation where the lower court has refused to include a question concerning the permanent injury threshold on a verdict form in a case where the threshold was a controverted issue. We write to urge the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases to carefully consider the desirability of making such an interrogatory part of the standard verdict form. Although the jury may be given an instruction on the permanent injury threshold limitation on types of awardable damages, absent such an interrogatory on the verdict form, the jury is left bereft of any direction concerning how to implement a de- cisión that the threshold has not been met. There is great potential for the jury to be misled into following the verdict form rather than following the jury instruction.
AFFIRMED.
DAUKSCH, GRIFFIN and THOMPSON, JJ., concur. . Florida East Coast Ry. Co. v. Lassiter, 58 Fla. 234, 50 So. 428, 430 (Fla.1909); Walsh v. Diaz, 409 So. 2d 1186 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Souto v. Segal, 302 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974).
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J.T.A. Factors, Inc. v. Philcon Servs., Inc., 820 So. 2d 367 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)…y Philcon. The form of the verdict to be used, however, lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. We find no abuse of the trial court’s discretion by rejecting J.T.A.’s more complex interrogatory verdict form. See Firmani v. [*372] Grant, 681 So. 2d 869 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996) (trial court possesses exceptionally broad discretion in deciding whether to include interrogatory in verdict form). Finally, J.T.A. asserts that the trial court erred in denying its motion for a new trial because the jury’s ver…
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Triple R Paving, Inc. v. Broward Cnty., 774 So. 2d 50 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)…h DCA 1998)(citing Florida Power & Light Co. v. McCollum, 140 So. 2d 569 (Fla.1962)), dec. approved, 763 So. 2d 276 (Fla.2000). Although use of jury interrogatories is also subject to the trial court’s broad discretion, as noted in Firmani v. Grant, 681 So. 2d 869, 870 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), “There is great potential for the jury to be misled into following the verdict form rather than following the jury instruction.” Hence, reversal is required where the jury could have been misled or confused by a verdict for…
Authorities Cited
- Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Lassiter, 58 Fla. 234 (Fla. 1909)
- Souto v. Segal, 302 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974)
- Walsh v. Neldys T. Diaz, 409 So. 2d 1186 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)