In Re Dickerson

DAVID GAULTNEY,

Justice, dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. The trial judge signed two post-answer default “final” judgments on the same day in the same case against Dickerson: one was apparently based on a directed verdict, the other on a jury verdict. The judgment based on the jury verdict contains the jury’s findings. That judgment reflects the jury found $87,000 in exemplary damages against Dickerson but no actual damages. Yet the judgment ordered the plaintiffs to recover from Dickerson (and the other defendants) $668,300 in actual damages and $387,000 in exemplary damages. The other…