Opinion ID: 202321
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jury instructions, verdict, and motion for a new trial

Text: 22 After the closing arguments, the court instructed the jury. The court then summoned counsel to the bench. Plaintiff's counsel briefly stated his objections to the jury instructions by referring to the number assigned to each jury instruction that he thought should or should not have been included. Plaintiff's counsel did not explain the grounds for these objections on the record. After approximately one half-hour of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. The court entered judgment for the defendants on September 24, 2001. 23 On October 4, 2001, Colón filed a motion for a new trial under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a). In her motion, she argued that the defendants ambushed her at trial with perjured testimony; that the court erred in not allowing her attorney to record the bases of her objections to jury instructions; and that the court improperly excluded some of her proposed jury instructions, improperly modified others, and erred in giving one of the defendants' proposed instructions. In support of her claim that the defendants had perjured themselves, she submitted an affidavit from Officer Sein. Officer Sein stated that, contrary to the testimony of the defense witnesses, he never interviewed any witnesses at the scene of the accident or met with Matos or any other Sears employee at the police station at any point after the accident. Officer Sein confirmed that Officer Ortiz interviewed these individuals. According to the plaintiff, the purpose of the defense witnesses' contrary and perjurious testimony was to undermine Officer Ortiz's testimony that Matos had informed him that he had been distracted just prior to the accident, and to support the defendants' story that Sierra also witnessed the accident and could confirm Matos's testimony. 24 The district court construed Colón's motion as a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. The court held that the plaintiff failed to meet her burden of showing that she was duly diligent in trying to discover the new evidence, i.e., Officer Sein's testimony. The court also rejected the plaintiff's arguments regarding the jury instructions, concluding that it had given the plaintiff an opportunity to state her objections for the record and that, in any case, the plaintiff's substantive objections to the instructions were meritless. On appeal, Colón assigns error to all of these rulings.