Opinion ID: 1913429
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the trial court abuse its discretion by denying Treib's motion for a new trial?

Text: Treib claims that a new trial should have been granted because the jury verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence and the settled law of the State of South Dakota. SDCL 15-6-59(a)(6). The rule is well established that a trial court has broad discretion in granting a new trial. Simmons v. City of Sioux Falls, 374 N.W.2d 631 (S.D.1985). The denial of a new trial will not be disturbed on appeal absent a clear showing that the trial court abused its discretion. Herren v. Gantvoort, 454 N.W.2d 539 (S.D.1990). As stated above, Treib's contributory negligence was an issue of fact for the jury. There was conflicting evidence which could lead to differing inferences favorable to either party. While the existence of a conflict in the evidence is a controlling consideration by which courts are governed in setting aside a jury verdict, the mere presence of a conflict in the evidence does not license a trial court to weigh conflicting evidence and substitute its own judgment for that of the jury, simply because it disagrees with the verdict. It must appear that the evidence was conflicting on several controlling points and that the verdict is clearly unsupported in light of other evidentiary facts proven. Therefore, unless the finding of the jury on a question of fact is so unreasonable, arbitrary, and unsupported by the evidence, a new trial should not be granted on the basis of insufficiency of the evidence. Lewis v. Storms, 290 N.W.2d 494, 497 (S.D. 1980) (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added). After examining all the evidence, it cannot be said that the verdict reached was unreasonable, arbitrary, and unsupported by the evidence. The jury was properly instructed as set forth above, and there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could have reasonably inferred that, while both drivers were negligent, Treib's negligence was more than slight when compared to Kern's. Id. In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying an application for new trial, this court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the [jury] verdict. Cody v. Edward D. Jones & Co., 502 N.W.2d 558, 561 (S.D.1993) (citing Stoltz, 336 N.W.2d at 656). In this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the motion for a new trial.