Opinion ID: 4076467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: When asked why he was so intent on scaling Mount Everest, the ill-fated mountaineer George Mallory famously replied: “because it’s there.”1 The parties before us have put a twist on that philosophy: they have created their own mountain of issues and have argued, appealed, and crossappealed nearly all of them.2 Unfortunately, if there had been a hope of bringing this matter to conclusion any time soon, that was dashed when, in the middle of trial, the District Court erroneously granted judgment as a matter of law against one side, tainting the entire trial and the ultimate verdict. We will therefore vacate the judgment of the District Court and remand with instructions for further proceedings. We do not take this step lightly, but the error of the District Court here was of such magnitude that we seriously doubt the correctness of the ultimate verdict. This case arises from the fractured relationship between a large communications equipment manufacturer, 1 Climbing Mount Everest Is Work for Supermen, N.Y. Times, Mar. 18, 1923, at 11. 2 The District Court recognized the battle-every-issue character of the litigation. To one request from counsel to “make a record” of his objection, the Court responded: “Make a record, go ahead. The circuit will love it. It will be the 5,927th error you have pointed out to them.” (J.A. 2397.) 6 Avaya Inc. (“Avaya”), and one of its dealers and service providers, TLI.3 After they fell out, Avaya aggressively acted to block TLI from providing independent maintenance services for Avaya equipment. Meanwhile, the nowindependent TLI took a series of legally dubious actions to gain access to Avaya communications systems used by clients the parties once shared. Avaya filed suit, alleging several business torts and breach of contract; TLI counter-sued for antitrust violations. After years of pre-trial litigation, and in the midst of a months-long trial, the District Court granted TLI’s motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 for judgment as a matter of law against Avaya on all of Avaya’s affirmative claims. The Court later instructed the jury that none of TLI’s actions could be considered unlawful. With that instruction guiding it, the jury found Avaya liable for two antitrust violations and awarded substantial damages. We conclude that the entry of judgment as a matter of law was erroneous. Given how intertwined the two sides’ claims are – and given that Avaya’s antitrust defense relied in large part on justifying Avaya’s conduct as a response to TLI’s conduct – we also conclude that the erroneous Rule 50 3 We use “TLI” as shorthand for a group of small service providers that are under common ownership and control and are collectively the appellees/cross-appellants. They include Telecom Labs, Inc. (“TLI”), TeamTLI.com Corp., and Continuant, Inc., along with their common owners and managers Douglas Graham, Scott Graham, and Bruce Shelby. Although Continuant seemingly took over the businesses’ continuing interests beginning in 2005, TLI was the firm most involved in this dispute from the beginning, so we use that name for simplicity. 7 judgment infected the jury’s verdict. We must therefore vacate the judgment of the District Court. A tour of the mountain follows.