Opinion ID: 717546
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: JHA's Cross-Appeal

Text: 34 JHA argues that Andrade did not present sufficient evidence that it acted to deprive Andrade of her civil rights in violation of § 1983, and therefore the district court erred in failing to grant its Rule 50(b) post-verdict motion on Count II. We review the denial of a post-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo, see Lama v. Borras, 16 F.3d 473, 477 (1st Cir.1994), and we must sustain the court's denial of a Rule 50(b) motion  'unless the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences in favor of the verdict, could lead a reasonable person to only one conclusion, namely, that the moving party was entitled to judgment,'  id. (quoting PH Group Ltd. v. Birch, 985 F.2d 649, 653 (1st Cir.1993)). 35 During its deliberations on Count II, the jury asked the court how to distinguish JHA from the individual Commissioners. The district court responded that the action of a majority of the five Commissioners constituted an action of JHA. JHA argues therefrom that because the jury only found one of the Commissioners liable when it needed to find three Commissioners liable in order to find that JHA acted, the jury could not have found JHA liable as it did. Because we find that Andrade provided ample evidence from which the jury could have concluded that JHA violated § 1983, we affirm the district court's denial of JHA's Rule 50(b) motion. 36 Andrade presented three significant pieces of direct evidence: (1) Gross's May 2, 1991, letter to Jackson requesting Andrade's transfer from JHA because of her testimony against Commissioner Eaton at a public hearing, (2) Andrade's tape recording of her May 1, 1991, conversation with Gross, during which he stated that [I]t's [Andrade's testimony] been a problem with the Commissioners. The Commissioners, the five Commissioners, hire and fire me and, in essence, they hire and fire you, or they hire and transfer you ..., and (3) Commissioner Hillier's refusal at a JHA Board Meeting to consider reinstating Andrade due to her testimony against Commissioner Eaton. Assuming arguendo that under § 1983 a majority of the Commissioners was needed for JHA to have acted, the jury could have inferred from this evidence that (1) a majority of the Commissioners shared Gross's views or two of the Commissioners present at the Board Meeting shared Commissioner Hillier's views, 7 (2) these same Commissioners had authorized their Executive Director, Gross, to request Andrade's transfer in retaliation for her testimony, and (3) Gross's May 1, 1991, conversation with Jackson as memorialized in his May 2, 1991, letter caused Self-Help to terminate Andrade. 37 To the extent that JHA is also complaining that the verdict is inconsistent in that it finds only one Commissioner liable at the same time as it finds JHA liable, that argument is waived because of JHA's failure to make a timely objection to the alleged inconsistency. See Bonilla v. Yamaha Motors Corp., 955 F.2d 150, 155-56 (1st Cir.1992) (holding that a party waives the issue of inconsistency if it fails to object after the verdict is read and before the jury is dismissed).