Opinion ID: 78049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Post-Judgment Relief

Text: Renta finally argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying him post-judgment relief under Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b)(2) based on newly discovered evidence, namely, the BanInter audit report and the ledger of Bankinvest. To obtain relief under Rule 60(b)(2), a party must show that evidence was (i) discovered after trial, (ii) material, (iii) not merely impeaching or cumulative, (iv) likely to produce a different result on retrial, and further that the party exercised due diligence to obtain the evidence. Waddell v. Hendry Co. Sheriff's Office, 329 F.3d 1300, 1309 (11th Cir.2003). This evidence was allegedly unavailable at trial because the audit report was not yet completed and the ledger was in the hands of Renta's accountant, who was not authorized to release it for reasons related to the then-ongoing Dominican proceedings. Yet the ledger and audit are not likely to produce a different result on retrial, for essentially the reasons propounded by the district court. The audit is of questionable relevance and is largely cumulative of Renta's own testimony. It certainly does not decisively establish the critical point that Renta would need to establish to obtain relief: that he was owed millions by Bankinvest. The ledger is a closer question. Like the Bankinvest sale documents, it could be construed as consistent with Renta's theory of the case. (Renta testified to many of the facts he would seek to prove with the ledger, but because Renta's theory of the case is an implausible oral agreement for which he had no documentary proof, strong documentary support for his assertions might have changed the result.) The ledger arguably establishes more detail about Bankinvest's liabilities than Renta himself could provide. But it does not conclusively establish that Bankinvest owed Renta the millions he claimed. As with the case of the Bankinvest sale documents, for the ledger to support Renta's theory of the case, the jury would have had to accept his characterization of particular ambiguous line items. Moreover, there are significant questions about the authenticity of the ledger. In short, with or without the ledger, this case hinged on Renta's credibility. Given the other evidence in the case, the ledger was not likely to have altered the jury's assessment of Renta's credibility, nor does it otherwise suggest that the result of a new trial would likely be different. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying post-judgment relief.