Opinion ID: 166827
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dismissal of Ms. Glas’s claims

Text: Ms. Glas argues that she presented sufficient evidence that the presence of Entran II in her home decreased its sale price. (Aplt. Op. Br. at 49). She seeks remand of her claims and requests that Goodyear be precluded from relitigating the issue of liability on her claims for defective product, negligence, and negligent failure to warn under the doctrine of law-of-the-case. Accordingly, Ms. Glas requests that we enter judgment for her on the issue of liability and order a new trial limited to damages. Applying de novo review to the district court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law and applying Colorado law concerning damages, our review of the record reveals the following. Ms. Glas had a long history with Entran II before the sale of her home. She listed the home for sale on several occasions. Tr. Vol. -34- XXII at 2413. The fact that Entran II was installed in the home was disclosed in each listing. Id. at 2414. Ms. Glas testified that one realtor refused to continue listing her home unless she fixed the problem with her heating system. Id. Upon Ms. Glas’s request, a construction company provided her an estimate of $640,000 to remove the Entran II hose. Id. at 2415. She declined to have the work performed. In 2001, after this litigation commenced, Ms. Glas contracted with a new real estate broker, Richard Kesler. Id. at 2429. The broker testified that he advised Ms. Glas that Entran II would decrease the market value of her home. Id. at 2438-39. Based on her own experience and her broker’s advice, Ms. Glas listed her home for $8.1 million. In addition to the price, the listing stated: “[s]eller shall be entitled to any proceeds from this litigation as partial compensation for any reduction in the purchase price for the subject property.” Id. at 2428. The home ultimately sold for $6,450,000, $1.65 million below the listing price. Id. at 2425-26. Ms. Glas testified that she believed the presence of Entran II was the cause of the reduced price she was offered and ultimately accepted for her home. Id. at 2425. In addition, Mr. Wilson testified that if Ms. Glas owned the home at the time of trial, she would have to pay approximately $710,000 to have the Entran II replaced and would incur uncertainty damages of approximately $211,000. -35- The district court initially set forth its reasons for granting Goodyear’s motion for judgment as a matter of law in its ruling of July 17, 2003. The district court reasoned: [T]here is no dispute that [Ms. Glas] has no out-of-pocket past repair costs. In light of her testimony, as well as Mr. Wilson, and the [purchaser], it is apparent to me that even in the light most favorable to this plaintiff, any damages with regard to future repair costs, estimated at $709,718, and uncertainty in the amount of $211,100, is wholly speculative. It has no reasonable foundational basis to submit this claim by this plaintiff to the jury. Each of the claims pled by the plaintiff and tried in this case have as an element that damage was caused by the conduct inherent in each claim. . . . I have an unwavering conviction that her damage claim is wholly speculative. Tr. Vol. XLIII at 4895-96. In a later written order, the district court reinforced its conclusion by again referring to deposition testimony admitted at trial concerning the intent of the home’s purchaser. The purchaser testified that his primary purpose in buying Ms. Glas’s property was to use the land as a ranch and that the presence of Entran II was “never a negative to the property” and “never used as a negotiating point on my behalf to the property.” J.A. at 1875-76. The district court also noted Mr. Kesler’s testimony that the existence of Entran II was never a specific item of negotiation with the purchaser; the home’s price negotiations were “more generalized.” Id. at 1876. The district court concluded that “in whole, no evidence supports Ms. Glas’s claim for damages caused by a decrease in market value due to Entran II in her home.” Id. -36- The evidence provided by Ms. Glas does not materially differ from that of the Holzwarths and Sutterely/Kilgore. The only noticeable difference in the district court’s disposition of Goodyear’s motion for judgment as a matter of law with respect to Ms. Glas’s claims appears to be the district court’s reliance on the purchaser’s intent when buying Ms. Glas’s home. The district court’s heavy reliance on the purchaser’s intent was error. The testimony of the purchaser was, at most, some evidence for the jury to weigh against Ms. Glas’s evidence. However, the proper inquiry for the purposes of granting judgment as a matter of law was whether Ms. Glas provided sufficient evidence upon which a jury could determine that the value of her home was decreased due to the presence of Entran II. Construing the evidence and inferences most favorably to Ms. Glas, we are persuaded that she did. 5 Goodyear again argues that Ms. Glas’s pretrial election to seek repair costs and post-repair uncertainty damages foreclosed her from seeking damages she incurred when she sold her home at a diminished value. (Goodyear Ans. Br. at 52). We reject this contention for same reasons already discussed with regards to 5 We also express concern with the district court’s reliance on the purchaser’s intent in this case because the purchaser bought Ms. Glas’s home in the marketplace. Our review of the record reveals, however, that neither Ms. Glas nor Goodyear sufficiently explored the relevant characteristics of the real estate market and the extent to which the market, not an individual market participant, establishes the value for a given property. -37- the Holzwarths and Sutterley/Kilgore. Finally, we turn to the relief sought by Ms. Glas. She maintains that the jury’s findings of liability against Goodyear on the claims of other homeowners is “law of the case” controlling her claims and that a new trial would be unnecessary on the issue of liability. (Aplt. Op. Br. at 51). Ms. Glas acknowledges, as she must, that the law of the case doctrine does not generally apply to jury verdicts. She notes that the district court entered judgment on the verdicts, both in the case in which Ms. Glas was a plaintiff and the cases consolidated with her own, based on the same claims and evidence. Therefore, she argues that the relief she seeks rests on a purely legal judgment and that a jury’s finding of no liability as to her claims could not be sustained. (Aplt. Reply Br. at 53-54). While her argument is imaginative, the doctrine of law of the case does not apply here. “[T]he law of the case doctrine posits that when a court decides upon a rule of law, that decision should continue to govern the same issues in subsequent stages in the same case.” United States v. Monsisvais, 946 F.2d 114, 115 (10th Cir. 1991) (quoting Arizona v. California, 460 U.S. 605, 618 (1983)). Ms. Glas provides no authority for the proposition that once the district court enters judgment on a verdict, it somehow becomes a conclusion of law and thus is appropriate for application within the law of the case context. We decline Ms. Glas’s invitation to create such authority. We therefore remand Ms. Glas’s claims -38- for a new trial.