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Wransky v. Dalfo12/12/2001
he trial judge may amend them or give some other instruction which adequately instructs the jury in the circumstances of the case." Id.
Wransky's special instruction correctly summarized a proposition of law that punitive damages should not be allowed to destroy or bankrupt a defendant. See Arab Termite & Pest Control of Fla., Inc., 409 So. 2d at 1043; Sutter v. Hammond, 545 So. 2d 497, 498 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). While the standard jury instruction informs the jury that it should consider the defendant's financial worth in determining an amount of punitive damages, the instruction does not inform the jury that there is an upper limit on punitive damages, i.e., an award which will not bankrupt the defendant. In Auster v. Gertrude & Philip Strax Breast Cancer Detection Institute, Inc., 649 So. 2d 883, 887 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), we held:
This court in Cornette v. Spalding & Evenflo Cos., Inc., 608 So. 2d 144 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), adopted the Fifth District Court's test for determining when the failure to give a requested jury instruction results in reversible error. See Orange County v. Piper, 523 So. 2d 196 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 531 So. 2d 1354 (Fla. 1988). We adhere to the rule pronounced in Piper that the failure to give a requested instruction constitutes reversible error when the complaining party establishes that the requested instruction accurately states the applicable law, the facts in the case support giving the instruction, and the instruction was necessary to allow the jury to properly resolve all issues in the case.
In this case, failure to give the instruction resulted in a jury misled and confused by Dalfo's attorney's closing argument into believing that it could award any amount it wished irrespective of the defendant's financial resources. The failure to give the jury instruction resulted in a miscarriage of justice as to the punitive damage award. Where the defendant requests such an instruction and there is evidence of the defendant's financial resources presented at trial, we hold that it is error not to give an instruction informing the jury that the amount of punitive damages cannot bankrupt a defendant.
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse and remand this case for a new trial on punitive damages.
POLEN, C.J., and GROSS, J., concur.
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