Opinion ID: 277859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Federal Test for the Sufficiency of the Evidence

Text: 10 It should be evident from the foregoing definition of a defect that the test for the sufficiency of the evidence is of paramount importance. This Court recently reaffirmed in Planters Manufacturing Co. v. Protection Mutual Insurance Co., 5th Cir. 1967, 380 F.2d 869, the principle that although state law governs the elements of a cause of action, the sufficiency of the evidence is a matter of federal law. 5 This doctrine has been formulated to protect the seventh-amendment right to a jury trial by demanding uniformity in the exercise of the power of the trial judge to grant directed verdicts. 2B Barron & Holtzoff, Federal Practice and Procedure 871.1 at 18 (Wright ed. 1961). Accordingly, since the federal policy favors jury trials, we must approach Appellants; complaint that the trial judge erred in not granting these motions with the realization that they should be granted sparingly. Id. at 375. 6 11 The test employed by the Fifth Circuit is that a fact issue must be submitted to the jury if reasonable men could differ on the conclusions to be reached from the evidence presented. Isaacs v. American Petrofina, 5th Cir., 1966, 368 F.2d 193; Wells v. Warren, 5th Cir. 1964,328 F.2d 666. We must view the evidence and all reasonable inferences most favorably to the party against whom the motion is made. Moreover, only the evidence and the reasonable inferences which support Appellee's theory may be considered. Wikerson v. McCarthy, 1949, 336 U.S. 53, 69 S.Ct. 413, 93 L.Ed. 497; Berry v. United States, 1941, 312 U.S. 450, 61 S.Ct. 637, 85 L.Ed. 945. Indeed after Planters our sole function is to ascertain if there is a rational basis in the record for the jury's verdict. The Planters decision, however, provides no explicit help in determining which inferences are rational. The polar ends of this problem may be stated as follows: Planters holds that an inference may be reasonable though based partly on conjecture; 7 it is not, however, unconstitutional to direct a verdict for the defendant, Galloway v. United States, 1943, 319 U.S. 372, 63 S.Ct. 1077, 87 L.Ed. 1458, and it seems well settled that an inference is unreasonable if it is at war with uncontradicted or unimpeached facts. See Parker v. Wideman, 5th Cir., 1967, 380 F.2d 433; 2B Barron and Holtzoff, supra, at 390. The proper blending of these two polar positions can only be accomplished by understanding that the basic question is one of policy: How far is the court willing to let the jury speculate? Comment, Directed Verdicts and the Right to Trial by Jury in Federal Courts, 42 Texas L.Rev. 1053, 1063 (1964). 12 In deciding how much the jury can speculate it is well settled that an appellate court cannot weigh the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses. Wells v. Warren, supra. The line of demarcation which we are required to walk is ephemeral: We must conclude that an inference is unreasonable without falling into the trap of weighing all the evidence and deciding that while the jury's inference is reasonable, the evidence shows that another inference is just as reasonable, it not more so. 2B Barron & Holtzoff, supra at 392. It is only to that limited extent that all the evidence is considered. 13