Opinion ID: 1583279
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence of Comparative Fault.

Text: Olson urges us to affirm the grant of a new trial because the jury's verdict attributing to her sixty percent of the total fault is not supported by substantial evidence. Although the district court's posttrial ruling was not based on insufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's allocation of fault to the parties, we may uphold the ruling on any ground raised in the district court. DeVoss v. State, 648 N.W.2d 56, 63 (Iowa 2002). As we have noted above, Olson did articulate a timely challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting Instruction 16, which addressed Sumpter's claim that Olson was at fault for failing to keep a proper lookout. We therefore now consider whether the grant of a new trial was appropriate for a reason raised by Olson, but not relied on by the district court. If a jury verdict is not supported by sufficient evidence and fails to effectuate substantial justice, a new trial may be ordered. Bredberg v. Pepsico, Inc., 551 N.W.2d 321, 326 (Iowa 1996). In this case, the jury's verdict allocating sixty percent of the fault to Olson is supported by sufficient evidence. Olson testified that she noticed Sumpter's car in his driveway before backing her car onto the street. She further testified that she did not see Sumpter's car moving backward on his driveway before the collision. After a careful review of the record, we conclude the jury's allocation to Olson of sixty percent of the causative fault is supported by sufficient evidence in the record. Accordingly, we must reject Olson's contention that the grant of a new trial should be affirmed for the reason that the evidence of her fault is insufficient to support the jury's verdict.