## Facts

- Two suspended skywalks in a Kansas City hotel lobby collapsed during a crowded event, causing mass casualties and severe injuries.
- Kay Kenton, then in her twenties and a law student, was beneath the skywalks and suffered a broken neck with spinal cord damage, resulting in permanent impairments affecting mobility, breathing, and childbearing.
- Kenton also suffered severe, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and long-term emotional distress.
- Hyatt stipulated to liability under a partial settlement; trial was limited to damages, and Kenton was barred from presenting evidence on defendants’ construction and maintenance decisions.
- Kenton presented evidence describing the collapse’s circumstances and aftermath, including testimony from first responders and a reporter, her sister’s description of the scene, and photographs/video depicting the aftermath without showing bodies.
- Kenton presented expert testimony on future economic losses and medical costs (approximately $2.28–$3.21 million) and testimony that her injuries made completing law school and practicing law unlikely.
- The jury awarded $4,000,000 in compensatory damages.

## Issues

1. Whether, after a stipulation to liability, the trial court improperly admitted testimony and visual evidence describing the collapse and its aftermath on the ground that it was irrelevant to damages and unfairly prejudicial.
2. Whether the $4,000,000 verdict was excessive, and whether the trial court properly ordered a $250,000 remittitur or Hyatt was entitled to a larger remittitur or a new trial.

## Decision

- The court held the challenged evidence was admissible because it was relevant to the nature and extent of Kenton’s physical and psychological damages, including her claimed post-traumatic stress disorder.
- The court found no sufficient showing that the verdict resulted from passion or prejudice.
- The court held the $4,000,000 verdict was supported by the evidence and did not “shock the conscience.”
- The court ruled the trial court abused its discretion in ordering a $250,000 remittitur and rejected Hyatt’s request for a larger reduction.
- The judgment was affirmed except for the remittitur order; the case was remanded with directions to reinstate the full $4,000,000 verdict and enter judgment for Kenton in that amount.

## Legal Principles

- In a damages-only trial, evidence describing the circumstances and immediate aftermath of an incident may be relevant to quantify damages, including emotional distress and psychological injury, even when liability is admitted.
- A trial court has discretion over admissibility of potentially graphic evidence, but exclusion is not required merely because such evidence is powerful; the question is whether it is probative of damages and unfairly prejudicial.
- Remittitur is improper absent a clear basis showing the verdict is unsupported by the evidence or is the product of bias, passion, or prejudice; modest, unexplained reductions are disfavored.
- Appellate review of excessiveness focuses on whether the award is supported by the record and whether it is so large as to indicate improper influence on the jury.

## Conclusion

The court permitted evidence depicting the collapse’s conditions because it materially assisted the jury in valuing catastrophic physical injury and severe psychological harm, and it reinstated the full $4,000,000 award, holding that remittitur was unwarranted where the verdict was supported by the evidence and not shown to stem from passion or prejudice.


Kenton v. Hyatt Hotels Corp., 693 S.W.2d 83 (Mo. 1985)