Opinion ID: 531232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 On January 2, 1986, an automobile driven by appellee-defendant Chris Broadhurst (Broadhurst) collided with a tractor-trailer truck driven by appellant-plaintiff Bobby Coursey (Coursey) on an interstate highway near Brandon, Mississippi. The impact caused the right tires of Coursey's tractor and trailer to drop off the road surface onto the right shoulder of the highway. The weight of the load of sheetrock Coursey was carrying shifted to the right and the truck flipped on its side, causing personal injury to Coursey and property damage to his tractor-trailer unit. 3 On June 22, 1987, Coursey filed a negligence action against Broadhurst, based on diversity jurisdiction, in United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, seeking damages resulting from the automobile-truck collision. After discovery was completed, Coursey filed a pretrial motion in limine to exclude any evidence regarding his 1983 felony conviction for cattle theft. The district court denied Coursey's motion. 1 4 The action was tried to a jury on January 9 and 10, 1989. During his opening statement, counsel for Broadhurst referred to Coursey as a convicted felon. Coursey moved for a mistrial, arguing that opposing counsel's conduct impermissibly exceeded the scope of Federal Rule of Evidence 609 and irreparably prejudiced Coursey in the eyes of the jury. The trial court denied the motion for mistrial. 5 After both sides had rested, the district court granted Broadhurst's motion for a directed verdict on the element of damages relating to Coursey's tractor, ruling that Coursey had failed to establish a prima facie case in support of these damages. In closing argument, Coursey asked the jury to render a verdict in his favor for $54,700 on the remaining elements of damages: medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, repair costs for the trailer attachment, and costs for storing the trailer for a reasonable period during which repairs could have been completed. The jury returned a verdict for Coursey in the amount of $8,600. 6 Coursey filed a motion for additur or new trial under Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court denied the motion, and Coursey then filed a timely appeal to this court. Coursey contends on appeal, as he did in his motion for additur or new trial, that the district court erred in denying his motion in limine and admitting evidence of his 1983 felony theft conviction. Coursey argues that, in any event, the court erred in allowing reference to Coursey's conviction to come out in Broadhurst's opening statement, rather than on cross-examination of Coursey as contemplated by Fed.R.Evid. 609(a). Finally, Coursey contends that the district court erred in directing a partial verdict for Broadhurst, excluding from the jury's consideration the issue of damages related to the alleged total loss of Coursey's tractor.