Opinion ID: 1467960
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Trial by Consent of Guarantee Issue

Text: Sawyer next contends that the jury should not have been allowed to decide whether a binding contract of guarantee existed between himself and Graybar because that question was not explicitly raised in the pleadings. Sawyer never made any such contention in the Superior Court, and hence it is not open to him to press it belatedly on appeal. State v. Thornton, 485 A.2d 952, 953 (Me.1984); State v. Desjardins, 401 A.2d 165, 169 (Me.1979); Harrington v. Town of Garland, 381 A.2d 639, 642-43 (Me.1978). Even if we were to consider the contention, we would reject it. From the record it is clear that the question of the existence of a contract of guarantee was tried by mutual implied consent of the parties, and hence was properly submitted to the jury under M.R.Civ.P. 15(b). Sawyer's own proposed jury instructions, motion for judgment n.o.v., and most of the other documents that he filed in the trial court are framed in terms of a third-party contract of guarantee.