Opinion ID: 146651
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: master and usurper

Text: We review the district court's denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. Hamburger v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 361 F.3d 875, 884 (5th Cir.2004). A motion for judgment as a matter of law ... in an action tried by jury is a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's verdict. If reasonable persons could differ in their interpretation of the evidence, then the motion should be denied. A post-judgment motion for judgment as a matter of law should only be granted when the facts and inferences point so strongly in favor of the movant that a rational jury could not reach a contrary verdict. We accord great deference to the jury's verdict when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, viewing all the evidence and drawing all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the verdict. Thomas v. Tex. Dep't of Crim. Justice, 220 F.3d 389, 392-93 (5th Cir.2000) (internal citations and quotations omitted). To succeed on a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, the plaintiff must show that a fiduciary relationship existed between the plaintiff and defendant, that the defendant breached his fiduciary duty, and that the defendant's breach caused injury to the plaintiff or a benefit to the defendant. Navigant Consulting, Inc. v. Wilkinson, 508 F.3d 277, 283 (5th Cir.2007) (citation omitted). Here, defendants do not contest that they had a fiduciary relationship with Meaux, nor that their actions breached a fiduciary duty. Rather, they assert that there has been no showing that their actions caused harm to Meaux. A jury may infer proximate cause from circumstantial evidence. Id. at 289 (citations omitted). In Navigant, the evidence showed that the defendants solicited fellow employees to join them in defecting to a competitor. Id. at 290. Following the defendants' departure, their erstwhile employer lost many key employees to the competitor and experienced a drop-off in business. Id. We held that the jury could reasonably conclude, based on this evidence, that the defendants' actions sent the plaintiff's business into a maelstrom. Id. at 290-91. Alert avoidance of the classical fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc does not require rejection of common sense inferences. Id. at 291 (quoting Swanner v. United States, 406 F.2d 716, 718 (5th Cir.1969)). [2] The evidence showed that Fogleman and Kotrla set up CleanBlast several months before they resigned from Meaux. Defendants informed many of Meaux's foremen and staff that they would form a new company, and indicated that several of Meaux's jobs would be commandeered by CleanBlast. Patricia Duhon, an employee of Meaux, testified that prior to resigning, Kotrla actively recruited many of Meaux's employees. Duhon's testimony was that Kotrla said that once Meaux's foremen were working for CleanBlast, CleanBlast would get business from Meaux's clients, because the clients pretty much followed the foremen. Within days of Fogleman's and Kotrla's resignation from Meaux, several of Meaux's work crews were working under CleanBlast's ensign. In suspiciously short order, CleanBlast also procured insurance, master service agreements (MSAs), and job contracts with several of Meaux's largest customers. Meaux's sales to those customers sank like an anchor. Defendants say Meaux's fusillade of evidence fails to strike below the waterline because Ennemann did not have direct knowledge of the above facts, and because other factors could have caused a drop-off in business. Defendants note that 2006 was a bumper year for their industry due to repairs necessitated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and business was somewhat becalmed in 2007. Defendants also say that their lawful competition could have caused a drop in Meaux's business, and note that there is a high degree of turnover in their industry. But defendants cannot navigate a perilous shoal: such arguments are matters for the trier of fact. They do not undermine the legal sufficiency of properly admitted evidence in support of the verdict. Based on the evidence submitted at trial, the jury was well within its province to find that defendants' recruitment of Meaux's employees was not mere palaver, but rather, directly caused Meaux to suffer a loss in business. See id. at 290-91. The district court properly denied defendants' motions for judgment as a matter of law as to causation. See Thomas, 220 F.3d at 392-93.