LAVERNE BOECK AND VALDA BOECK, HUSBAND AND WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
WALTER DIEM, APPELLEE; DELLA SMITH, APPELLANT, V. WALTER DIEM, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1971-03-10
Nos. 70-286, 70-287
PIERCE, C. J., and McNULTY, J., concur.
245 So. 2d 687 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1971) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases


Opinion of the Court
MANN, Judge.

MANN, Judge.

Our Supreme Court has made it clear in Short v. Grossman, Fla. 1971, 245 So.2d 217, opinion filed January 13, 1971, that Griffis v. Hill, Fla. 1969, 230 So.2d 143, was not intended to make a new trial necessary in every zero damages case. Though the holding in Short seems to reaffirm a restrictive view of Supreme Court jurisdiction under Fla.Const. Art. V, § 4, F.S.A., the opinion clearly rehabilitates Shaw v. Puleo, Fla.1964, 159 So.2d 641.

This is an appropriate case for the af-firmance of zero damages. Plaintiffs were passengers in a car struck lightly by a following car. The car in which they were riding suffered a slight dent in the chrome ring surrounding the tail light lens, leaving the lens intact. Neither passenger suffered any injury requiring immediate medical attention, and they proceeded to their bingo game. They testified to headaches and pains attributed to the accident, but the jury chose to believe either that the pain did not exist or was attributable to other causes. A reasonable man could have believed that they were not injured in the accident.

Affirmed.

PIERCE, C. J., and McNULTY, J., concur.


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Cited By

  • Sur. Mortg., Inc. v. Equitable Mortg. Res., Inc., 534 So. 2d 780 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)
    …a new trial in all cases where the jury returns a zero verdict. In fact, where conflicting evidence exists concerning damages and reasonable men could believe that the plaintiff sustained no damages, a zero verdict will be upheld. See Boeck v. Diem, 245 So. 2d 687 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971). In this case, however, the jury found that EMR was liable and that SMI did in fact sustain damages, but awarded no damages despite uncontradicted evidence establishing more than nominal damages. Thus, the jury’s award was inadequ…
  • McCLOUD v. Sherman Mobile Concrete Co., Inc., 579 So. 2d 773 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)
    …It was not, however, sufficient to support a verdict for zero damages. Where there is conflicting evidence concerning damages and reasonable men could believe that the plaintiff sustained no damages, a zero verdict will be upheld. See Boeck v. Diem, 245 So. 2d 687 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971). In this case, however, there was no credible evidence submitted to contradict the evidence that Mr. McCloud sustained injuries as a result of the incident, that he incurred reasonable and necessary medical bills as a result of th…
  • …ry implication that the jury had considered pain and suffering and accounted for it. But we do not think that the Court intended to say that a verdict for zero damages is necessarily an inadequate verdict, and so held in Boeck v. Diem, Fla.App.1971, 245 So. 2d 687. This case is conceptually identical to Boeck v. Diem except in that the husband was here awarded a recovery for the sums he had expended for his wife’s treatment. In both cases there was no apparent injury. Both plaintiffs left the scene of the ac…

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