Opinion ID: 395313
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: grant of a new trial after the first trial

Text: 6 Hartford contests the district court's grant of a new trial after the jury returned a verdict in Hartford's favor after the first trial. The district court ruled that the verdict in the first trial was against the clear weight of the evidence, requiring a new trial. Although a district court's grant or denial of a new trial is ordinarily reviewable only for abuse of discretion or legal error, a more probing review applies to a grant of a new trial, especially when based on weight of evidence grounds. Evers v. Equifax, Inc., 650 F.2d 793, 796-97 (5th Cir. 1981); Conway v. Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, Inc., 610 F.2d 360, 362-63 (5th Cir. 1980); Love v. Sessions, 568 F.2d 357, 361 (5th Cir. 1978). Having reviewed the evidence in the first trial, however, we cannot say that the district court erred in granting a new trial.