Opinion ID: 726669
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The English Injunction

Text: 47 By focusing the jury's attention on the May 25-28 period, the district court effectively excluded from jury consideration the injunction issued by the High Court of Justice in England and the consequences of that injunction. We believe that the district court erred in doing so. Defendants maintain that the jury in fact was permitted to consider events that occurred prior to and subsequent to this time period, including the injunction. Defendants are only partially correct. Although the district judge instructed the jury that it could consider such events, he expressly instructed the jury to consider them solely in evaluating the defendants' state of mind and not on the question of tortious interference with contract. Plaintiffs correctly point out that absent this limiting instruction, for which we believe there to have been no legal justification, the jury might have reached different liability determinations. For example, the jury could have found against Pappas on the tortious interference claim if it concluded that he moved the Brazilian Friendship closing to Florida to interfere with plaintiffs' contract to purchase the vessel, i.e., by avoiding the English court's injunction. Moreover, the district judge specifically, and we believe erroneously, instructed the jury that the injunction had no legal effect whatsoever on the issues you are being asked to consider. The injunction would be highly relevant if, for example, the contract was found to be ongoing or if Hydra's unilateral cancellation of the MOA was found to be ineffective. The injunction certainly would be relevant to the defendants' states of mind on the tortious interference claim if the contract was still alive after May 28.