Shankman v. State

This is a consolidated personal injury ease involving claims by a husband and wife against multiple defendants. The posture of the appeal is influenced by the fact that the wife’s claims included a count of negligence against her husband, the driver of the vehicle in which she was injured, that was settled prior to trial.

Chief among the issues raised before us is an allegation that an illegal “quotient verdict” was rendered by the jury. In their appeal to the Appellate Division, plaintiffs Dora and Stephen Shankman contended that the jury appeared to have used a quotient method in reaching…