California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Tinoco v. Garcia, Consolidated Cases No. F071883, Consolidated Cases No. F072280 (Cal. App. 2018):
"An appellant bears the burden to show not only that the trial court erred, but also that the error was prejudicial in that it resulted in a miscarriage of justice. [Citations.] An error is prejudicial and results in a miscarriage of justice only if the reviewing court concludes, based on its review of the entire record, that it is reasonably probable that the trial court would have reached a result more favorable to the appellant absent the error." (Jones v. Farmers Ins. Exchange (2013) 221 Cal.App.4th 986, 999.) Defendants contend the jury was confused and improperly included awards of economic damagesattorney fees and college expensesin the verdict amount. They assert the jury would not have been confused, and would not have made the improper awards, if defense counsel had been permitted to explain which categories of damages were permitted and which were not. Thus, the prejudice they claim is the addition to the damage award of improper amounts for economic damages that were not in issue in this case.
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