Opinion ID: 220052
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Proper Termination of the Agreement

Text: S & B Wilson argues that it could not have breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing as a matter of law because it was entitled to terminate the Agreement. S & B Wilson moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b), which provides that: If the court does not grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law made under Rule 50(a), the court is considered to have submitted the action to the jury subject to the court's later deciding the legal questions raised by the motion. No later than 28 days after the entry of judgmentor if the motion addresses a jury issue not decided by a verdict, no later than 28 days after the jury was dischargedthe movant may file a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and may include an alternative or joint request for a new trial under Rule 59. In ruling on the renewed motion, the court may: (1) allow judgment on the verdict, if the jury returned a verdict; (2) order a new trial; or (3) direct the entry of judgment as a matter of law. `Because the Rule 50(b) motion is only a renewal of the preverdict motion, it can be granted only on grounds advanced in the preverdict motion.' Ford v. Cnty. of Grand Traverse, 535 F.3d 483, 491 (6th Cir.2008) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 50 Advisory Committee Note). With regard to the duty of good faith and fair dealing, the only argument presented by S & B Wilson in its Rule 50(a) motion was a sufficiency of the evidence argument. Having reviewed the trial transcript, we conclude that S & B Wilson failed to raise a legal argument with respect to any inconsistency in allowing the jury to find both that the Agreement had been properly terminated and that the duty of good faith and fair dealing had been breached. During the district court's Rule 51 charge conference, S & B Wilson failed to object to the instruction that explicitly allowed the jury to find a breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing after it found that S & B Wilson's termination of the Agreement was proper. This omission implies that S & B Wilson conceived of this argument only post-verdict. Cf. Conseco Fin. Servicing Corp. v. N. Am. Mortg. Co., 381 F.3d 811, 822 n. 7 (8th Cir.2004) (It is apparent that [defendant] developed the theory raised in their Rule 50(b) motion only after the jury's verdict because it (1) failed to object to the general-verdict form, (2) offered no jury instructions explaining [the legal theory advanced in its post-verdict motion], and (3) made no substantive objection to the [jury] instruction.). Because S & B Wilson conceived of this argument post-verdict, it is improper to assert it in a Rule 50(b) motion. See Ford, 535 F.3d at 493 (holding that defendant was barred from raising an issue on a Rule 50(b) motion where defendant did not engage in a colloquy with the district court or opposing counsel on this point and did not request a jury instruction clarifying its argument). Thus, we review only S & B Wilson's sufficiency of the evidence argument.