Justia New Jersey Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff Ming Yu He was in an automobile accident with Defendant Enilma Miller. A jury found Defendant was negligent, and awarded Plaintiff $1.7 million for pain, suffering, injury, and loss of consortium. Defendant moved for a new trial or remittitur. The trial court granted the remittitur and reduced the money award to approximately $1.5 million. The court concluded that Plaintiff did not appear to be affected by her injuries at trial, and because she decided against surgery on her spine, and she was still able to drive a motor vehicle, she was not as injured as the juryâs original award would suggest. The appellate court reversed the trial courtâs decision. The Supreme Court summarily reversed part and remanded part of the case to the trial court, ordering the trial court to perform a factual analysis of how the award in Plaintiffâs case compared to similar awards given in New Jersey. On remand, the trial court noted that it had never seen such high damages in similar cases, and that his observations of Plaintiff during trial supported the remittitur. The appellate court again reversed the trial courtâs decision, concluding that the record fell short of what remittitur required. The Supreme Court disagreed with the appellate court, and reversed, finding that the trial court provided a sufficient explanation for remititur and that the record supported its decision. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial courtâs remittitur.