Opinion ID: 898621
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: William Tibert's Separate Motions

Text: [¶ 49] William Tibert argues Minto Grain failed to present any competent evidence that any action by him proximately caused any financial injury or damage to Minto Grain, and the jury's award of $305,000 against him was not supported by any evidence. William Tibert asserts there was no evidence that any of his conduct proximately caused any damages to Minto Grain under the claims for unlawful interference with business, intentional interference with contract, or nuisance. [¶ 50] In its memorandum decision and order denying William Tibert's renewed motions for judgment as a matter of law, the district court addressed the issues and specifically considered [w]hether there was a legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find that ... William's actions were the proximate cause of any damages.... The district court reiterated that there had been three weeks of trial testimony from numerous witnesses and over 130 exhibits received into evidence. The court said William Tibert's summary of the evidence was understated and minimized. The district court provided the following analysis: A review of the Special Verdict returned by the jury in this case reveals that the jury found William's percentage of fault to be less than Mark, Melvin and Suzi, on the unlawful interference with business, intentional interference with contract, and nuisance claims and the jury found him not at fault for trespass on [Minto Grain's] property. But the jury also determined on the unlawful interference with business, intentional interference with contract, and nuisance claims for which William was held at fault, that he acted in concert with the other three defendants, Mark, Melvin, and Suzi. Clearly these findings support that the jury weighed the testimony and evidence to arrive at their findings. This Court finds that [Minto Grain's] summary of various witnesses' testimony accurately depicts the testimony presented at trial against William. Some of that testimony included the following testimony which is sufficient to over come [sic] Defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law: the testimony by Plaintiff William Slominski as to the interference that he dealt with on a continuing basis from all the Tibert Defendants, including interference with his expansion plans, his contract with the railroad, interference with customer contracts, contracts he had with other contractors working on the expansion of the grain facilities, and with employees; William Slominski's testimony as to the damages he incurred and the additional testimony of Leonard Silwoski as to the economic losses incurred by the Plaintiffs due to the loss of the railroad contract; Kenneth Slominski's testimony that William Tibert refused to work on his truck because he sold grain to [Minto Grain] and that Drummer's Diesel informed him they would not work on his truck after they had been contact[ed] by Tiberts shows a direct interference with the Plaintiffs' contract with a customer of Minto Grain; testimony that William Tibert refused to continue doing business with Rod Schuster after Rod's brother made some decisions relating to Minto Grain's expansion as City Council member which Mark and Melvin Tibert were unhappy with and testimony that William also threatened Rod that it would not be a good idea for him to tow vehicles for William Slominski; Kevin Bolek's testimony that he was threatened by William Tibert when he was doing some excavation on the Slominski property for the expansion of their grain facility and which ultimately caused Kevin not to complete his work for Minto Grain. In conjunction with the above testimony, there was testimony that William worked with Melvin Tibert on a daily basis and that William supported his brothers in opposing the expansion of the Plaintiff's elevator. This testimony provides sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to infer William acted in concert with Melvin, Mark, and Suzi. [¶ 51] The district court concluded there was a sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find William Tibert's conduct interfered with Minto Grain's business, intentionally interfered with contracts to which the Plaintiffs were parties, and was a nuisance, all of which were the proximate cause of Minto Grain's damages. [¶ 52] The district court concluded the evidence supported a reasonable inference that William Tibert acted in concert with Melvin, Mark and Suzi Tibert and therefore William Tibert could be held jointly and severally liable for damages. Although William Tibert argues on appeal that Minto Grain failed to present any competent evidence that he proximately caused damage to Minto Grain, the district court rejected his claims about proximate cause in denying his renewed motion for judgement as a matter of law. [¶ 53] Based upon our review of the record, viewing the evidence supporting the jury verdict in the light most favorable to Minto Grain, the evidence is not so insufficient that reasonable minds could reach only one conclusion as to the verdict. We therefore conclude the district court did not err in denying William Tiberts' separate motion for judgment as a matter of law under N.D.R.Civ.P. 50(b).