specuLationcannotsupportaMotionforadditur
Construction law Section Co-Chairs: MartiniqueE. B. Smith – CarltonFields, P. A. & RyanJ. Ricca – Shutts & BowenLLP
trialcourtscannot rescueadamagesaward onamotionforadditur bysimplyguessingat thejury’ smath.
Craftsman Plastering and Lath, Inc. v. Rath Mor, LLC addresses how far a trial judge can go in second-guessing a jury’ s damages award on a motion for additur. The answer, per Florida’ s Fourth District Court of Appeal, is not very far.
In Craftsman, a property owner hired a general contractor to renovate a Palm Beach County project, and the general contractor hired 14 subcontractors, including a stucco subcontractor. Every subcontract carried an identical indemnity clause: each subcontractor had to indemnify the owner and general contractor for claims caused by that subcontractor’ s own act or omission. When defects surfaced,
primarily concerning the stucco work, the owner sued the general contractor, who brought in all 14 subcontractors as third-party defendants. Thirteen settled. The general contractor assigned its remaining claims against the stucco subcontractor to the owner, and the case went to trial against that subcontractor alone.
The general contractor’ s former defense counsel testified to $ 779,318.66 in fees and costs, insisting the stucco subcontractor owed it all. Under cross-examination, he conceded the figure included fees from suing the other 13 subcontractors and defending a counterclaim— none tied to the stucco work— though he called
those amounts“ trivial.” Jury instructions told jurors to award damages supported by the greater weight of the evidence, and the owner’ s own closing conceded the jury could discount the number. The jury awarded $ 55,652— roughly one-fourteenth of what was sought.
The owner moved for additur, and the trial judge admitted he was speculating but believed the jury had“ divided by 14,” yet granted the motion anyway, restoring the full $ 779,318.66. The subcontractor appealed without filing a written rejection of the additur. continuedonpage23
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