HERMAN B. HENNINGSEN, APPELLANT,
v.
JAMES W. SMITH, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1965-04-21
No. 4165
WHITE, Acting C. J., and KANNER, (RET.), J., concur.
174 So. 2d 85 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1965) Positive Treatment
Cited by 44 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a witness not on the pretrial list and that objections to jury instructions were not properly preserved for appeal.


Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff sued defendant for personal injuries from a car collision. Defendant appeals a jury verdict, arguing the trial court erred in admitting a wi…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

FARRINGTON, OTIS, Associate Judge.

Appellant, defendant in the trial court, appeals an adverse final judgment based on a jury verdict in an action for personal injuries resulting from an intersection collision between automobiles being operated by the plaintiff and defendant

*86Appellant seeks review of three points: (1) Whether the trial court erred in receiving over defendant’s objection the testimony of a witness for plaintiff whose name was not included on a witness list filed by plaintiff at the pretrial conference ; (2) Whether the trial court’s instruction on future loss of earnings and future earning capacity was a'correct statement of the law; (3) Whether the trial court’s instruction on defendant’s liability for aggravation of a pre-existing ailment was a correct statement of the law.

As to the first point the record discloses that at the pretrial conference held February 20, 1963, attorneys for plaintiff filed with the trial judge a list of witnesses on which the name of Dr. John Lee did not appear.1 Thereafter Dr. John Hagood, who was plaintiff’s main treating physician referred plaintiff to Dr. Lee for examination. Dr. Lee examined plaintiff on March 3, 1963. Plaintiff called Dr. Lée as a witness at the trial on March IS, 1963, and defendant objected on the ground -that Dr. Lee’s name did not appear-on the witness list filed by plaintiff’s attorney at the pretrial conference.

Following , defendant’s objection there was a colloquy at the bench .between the trial judge and the attorneys. Attorney for plaintiff stated to the judge that at the taking of a deposition in the case on February 26,. 1963, attorney for plaintiff advised an associate of defendant’s trial counsel that Dr. Lee was going to examine plaintiff, and that the deposition would so reflect. The deposition is not a part of the appeal record. Although plaintiff’s attorney would have little basis for complaint if the trial judge under the authority of the holding in Rose v. Yuille, Fla.S.Ct.1956, 88 So.2d 318, had rejected Dr. Lee’s testimony we are of the opinion that the record before us fails to demonstrate that it was an abuse of the broad discretionary power of the court for proper conduct of litigation to receive Dr. Lee’s testimony.

Points two and three raised by appellant involve objections to charges given by the trial judge. At the conclusion of the jury charge and before the jury commenced deliberation, the court invited the attorneys to dictate into the record any objections to the charges, as given. The objections then stated by attorney for appellant relating to the points two and three raised in this appeal are quoted from the record as follows:

“Comes now the Defendant and objects to the Court’s Charge of the Jury on the loss of earnings, because there is no evidence to support that Charge in the record. * * *
* * * * * *
“The Defendant objects to the Court’s Charge on aggravation of a pre-exist-ing injury, since the evidence does not support that Charge.”

The evidence at the trial raised issues justifying instructions on loss of earnings, loss of earning capacity and aggravation of a pre-existing physical condition. The contentions argued in appellant’s brief that the instructions given on these issues incorrectly stated the law were never asserted in trial court.

Rule 2.6(b) F.R.C.P., 31 F.S.A., requires proper objection to a charge given by the court where opportunity for such objection is afforded as a prerequisite to assigning the giving of such charge as error on appeal. An objection which fails to state distinctly the portion or omission or failure to instruct to which objection is made and the specific ground of such objection is not sufficient compliance with the rule.. 53 Am. Jur., Trial, §§ 830, 833, pp. 609, 611.

*87In the ’ absence ;of sufficient objection made during the trial to particular instructions to the’jury, the findings of the jury which have been'reviewed by the trial judge on motion for new trial, will not be disturbed on appeal when there is substantial evidence to support the verdict unless error of the trial judge in the instructions to the jury appears to have resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The record on appeal fails to establish such fact. Rivers Body Orlando, Inc. v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., Fla.App.1964, 167 So.2d 760.

Affirmed.

WHITE, Acting C. J., and KANNER, (RET.), J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (22 total)

  • Marks v. Delcastillo, 386 So. 2d 1259 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
    …served below because defense counsel did not make his objection to the proposed instruction on the issue on this ground, but rather on the basis that there was no evidence in the record of the amount of the lost accumulations.16 Henningsen v. Smith, 174 So. 2d 85 (Fla.2d DCA 1965), and many similar cases are cited for the proposition that only the grounds of objection to jury charges asserted below may be considered on appeal. However, the rule does not apply to this point. The estates have recovered damages…
  • DuPUIS v. 79TH St. Hotel, Inc., 231 So. 2d 532 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970)
    …ized as “out-of-pocket” expenses. The objections by the defendant to these instructions were general and not specific and are, therefore, insufficient to preserve this point for appellate review on this appeal. See Henningsen v. Smith, Fla.App.1965, 174 So. 2d 85. Op remand, however, the issue may again be before the trial court as to the proper instruction to be given to the jury. Florida has followed the “out-of-pocket rule”. See Strickland v. Muir, supra. It would appear that the Florida courts have adop…
  • McDONALD AIR Conditioning, Inc. v. John Brown, Inc., 285 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)
    …ial judge sustained the objection. Rulings of the trial court of this nature will not be disturbed unless it is clearly demonstrated that he abused his broad discretion. Rose v. Yuille, Fla.App.1956, 88 So. 2d 318; Henningsen v. Smith, Fla.App.1965, 174 So. 2d 85; County of Brevard v. Interstate Engineering Co., Fla.App.1969, 224 So. 2d 786; Green v. Shoop, Fla.App.1970, 240 So. 2d 85. We find no ‘abuse of discretion. On the question of appellant’s negligence, the final judgment is supported by the record.…

Previewing 3 of 22 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw