Opinion ID: 793355
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Retrial of Armstrong's FLSA Claim

Text: 58 We review for abuse of discretion determinations of issues and claims to be retried following the grant of a new trial. Vizzini, 569 F.2d at 760. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(a), a partial new trial is appropriate if the issue being retried is so distinct and separable from the others that a trial of it alone may be had without injustice. Gasoline Products Co. v. Champlin Refining Co., 283 U.S. 494, 500, 51 S.Ct. 513, 75 L.Ed. 1188 (1931); see also Stanton by Brooks v. Astra Pharm. Prods., 718 F.2d 553, 576 (3d Cir.1983). 59 Here, the FLSA was dismissed on an unopposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 motion before the first case went to the jury and after Armstrong had agreed that there was no evidence to support the claim. As such, it is difficult to understand how the FLSA claim could be so closely intertwined with the LAD claims to require its retrial if both parties agreed that no support existed for the FLSA claim, and yet sufficient evidence existed to send the separate LAD claims to the jury. Thus, the District Court did not abuse its discretion by ordering a new trial on the LAD claims that were decided by the jury while denying retrial on an issue previously dismissed for lack of evidence.