Opinion ID: 776014
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Remittitur Issue.

Text: 7 Following Mark Schaefer's first trial, Judge Webber granted Spider Staging relief from the jury's $1,750,000 compensatory damage award by ordering a remittitur to $200,000 or a new trial. In reaching that decision, the court applied Missouri substantive law to determine whether the jury's award was excessive. But the court looked at all the trial evidence, consistent with federal law standards governing trial court review of a jury verdict. See Dominium Mgmt. Serv., Inc. v. Nationwide Housing Group, 195 F.3d 358, 366 (8th Cir. 1999) (the district court may rely on its own reading of the evidence and grant a new trial even where substantial evidence exists to support the verdict). 8 On appeal, Mark Schaefer argues the district court erred by failing to review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict holder, as Missouri law requires. He cites no direct authority for the contention that state law governs this issue. The argument is without merit. In Gasperini v. Center for Humanities, 518 U.S. 415, 426-38 (1996), the Supreme Court confirmed that state law substantive standards that do not conflict with the commands of the Seventh Amendment must be followed in reviewing jury verdicts in diversity cases. But the decision whether to grant a remittitur -- unlike the legal standard to be applied in making that decision -- is a procedural matter governed by federal, rather than state, law. Parsons v. First Investors Corp., 122 F.3d 525, 528 (8th Cir. 1997) (quotation omitted). As the Supreme Court explained in the context of a punitive damages award: 9 In a diversity action . . . the propriety of an award of punitive damages for the conduct in question, and the factors the jury may consider in determining their amount, are questions of state law. Federal law, however, will control on those issues involving the proper review of the jury award by a federal district court . . . . [T]he role of the District Court is to determine whether the jury's verdict is within the confines set by state law, and to determine, by reference to federal standards developed under Rule 59, whether a new trial or remittitur should be ordered. 10 Browning-Ferris Indus. of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257, 278-79 (1989). Thus, in this case, Judge Webber applied the correct substantive and procedural standards in determining that a remittitur was required. His order of March 23, 2000, granting Spider Staging a remittitur or new trial is affirmed. 11