## Facts

- Rocco Figliomeni, a 14-year-old student with severe disabilities (including low IQ and limited vision), attended a special class in a Syracuse public school.
- Rocco’s health card restricted him to limited, low-risk physical activity.
- Teacher Joseph Gangemi, without reviewing the health restrictions, conducted an activity using a hard baseball and threw it to Rocco.
- The ball apparently struck Rocco’s head, after which he developed severe complications, including a skull fracture, infection, and recurrent epileptic seizures that ultimately prevented him from working.
- Rocco and his father sued the Board of Education and Gangemi for negligent supervision and instruction.
- At the first trial, plaintiffs presented expert testimony and State Education Department safety recommendations supporting that defendants departed from appropriate safety standards.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court properly exercised discretion in ordering a new trial limited to damages, rather than ordering a new trial on both liability and damages, where the first jury’s damages award was allegedly so low as to indicate a compromise verdict.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed.
- The trial court acted within its discretion in setting aside the damages award as inadequate and ordering a new trial limited to damages.
- The record did not establish that the original verdict reflected a compromise on liability.
- Liability remained fixed; only damages were retried and increased on subsequent review.

## Legal Principles

- A court may grant a new trial confined to damages when liability has been fairly and distinctly decided and liability is separable from damages.
- A damages-only retrial is improper if the original verdict appears to reflect a compromise on liability.
- An inadequate damages award, without more, does not require an inference of a compromise verdict.
- Trial judges receive substantial deference on whether a verdict reflects compromise, given their observation of the trial and jury.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeals held that the trial judge could order a new trial limited to damages because liability was supported by substantial proof and the low initial award did not, by itself, show the jury compromised on liability.


Figliomeni v. Bd. of Educ. of the City Sch. Dist. of Syracuse, 38 N.Y.2d 178 (N.Y. 1975)