Opinion ID: 2324618
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: plaintiff's motion for new trial

Text: Even though the trial justice had ruled in Kelly I that no reasonable jury could have found that bus driver Jones was completely without fault in this accident, he came to a different conclusion on the basis of the evidence presented at the second trial. At the conclusion of the evidence in the second trial, the trial justice observed, after reviewing the testimony of the various witnesses for both sides and exercising his independent judgment, that the jury could well have found that plaintiff was not struck by the right-front portion of the bus as he had concluded following the evidence in Kelly I. He determined that a jury could have properly found that plaintiff inadvertently walked into the side of the bus at a spot that was not visible to bus driver Jones (a blind spot on the right-hand side). When the trial justice determined that a reasonable jury could have so found, he concluded that Jones had done what he had been trained to do and had not been at fault at all in this incident. Even though this finding is 180 degrees opposite to the finding he made in Kelly I, we must still accord to the trial justice our usual deferential standard of review. When a trial justice has reviewed the evidence and commented on the credibility of the witnesses as he did in this case (finding Jones to be credible and plaintiff to be less credible owing to her advanced age), this Court will not disturb suchfindings unless the trial justice has overlooked or misconceived material and relevant evidence or was clearly wrong. Morrocco v. Piccardi, 674 A.2d 380, 382 (R.I.1996). In the case at bar our review of the record indicates that the evidence presented at the second trial was found by the trial justice to be more persuasive and supportive of the jury's verdict than the evidence presented in Kelly I. He did not overlook or misconceive material and relevant evidence, nor was he otherwise clearly wrong. We therefore sustain his denial of the plaintiff's motion for a new trial and reject the plaintiff's challenge on this issue.