Hawkins v. Hawkins

EXUM, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff Shannon Hawkins brought this action against her adoptive father, defendant James F. Hawkins, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for assault and battery. The uncontradicted evidence at trial tended to show that defendant sexually abused plaintiff from the time she was five and a half years old until she was fourteen years old. Plaintiff brought this action when she was eighteen years old.

At the end of all evidence, the trial court instructed the jury on three issues to be considered by it during its deliberations. These issues were then submitted and…