Opinion ID: 2814816
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion for New Trial Based on Caves’s Testimony

Text: Graham argues the district court abused its discretion by allowing Austin Caves to testify that Graham had breached the Agent Agreement. Graham contends this testimony was an inadmissible legal conclusion. Graham asserts Caves’s testimony was so prejudicial that he is entitled to a new trial on American Family’s breach-of-contract claim. At trial, Caves testified that, as an American Family sales manager, he was responsible for determining whether former agents complied with their Agent Agreements. Over Graham’s objection, Caves testified that American Family considered Graham’s February 2011 letter to be a violation of the non-inducement -6- clause. Graham moved for a new trial, alleging the court abused its discretion by allowing Caves to testify about the legal issue of whether Graham breached the Agent Agreement. Graham asserts this testimony was improper because it did nothing more than tell the jury what verdict it should return. See Kostelecky v. NL Acme Tool/ NL Ind., Inc., 837 F.2d 828, 830 (8th Cir. 1988) (“[E]vidence that merely tells the jury what result to reach is not sufficiently helpful to the trier of fact to be admissible.”). “We review the denial of a motion for a new trial for a ‘clear’ abuse of discretion, with the key issue being whether a new trial is necessary to prevent a miscarriage of justice.” Hoffmeyer v. Porter, 758 F.3d 1065, 1068 (8th Cir. 2014) (quotation omitted). Because Graham’s motion for a new trial is based on an allegedly erroneous evidentiary ruling, he must show the error affected his substantial rights and that a new trial would likely produce a different result. Pointer v. DART, 417 F.3d 819, 822 (8th Cir. 2005) (quotation omitted); see also Fed. R. Evid. 103. “The trial court is in the best position to determine whether the alleged error affected the substantial rights of any party sufficient to warrant a new trial, and the trial court’s decision is entitled to considerable deference.” Pointer, 417 F.3d at 822. Here, we need not decide whether the district court erred in admitting Caves’s testimony because Graham has not shown that any error affected his rights or that a new trial would produce a different result. Id. Caves testified during two days of the trial; and Graham objects only to Caves’s answers to two questions during those two days. Just before the objected-to testimony, Caves had already testified, without objection, that American Family considered the letter a breach of the non-inducement clause because it offered a “broader range of insurance products,” “more choices,” and “expanded coverage and excellent rates.” In addition, the February 2011 letter itself was strong evidence of the breach-of-contract claim, as was Graham’s own testimony about the letter and his reasons for sending it. The jury also heard testimony about the number of American Family policyholders who switched companies after receiving the letter. If Caves’s testimony had any effect on the jury, -7- it would have been slight given the nature and scope of the evidence presented at trial. As American Family points out, a reasonable jury would hardly have been surprised to hear, in a breach-of-contract case, that a representative of American Family was of the view that Graham violated a term of the Agent Agreement. We conclude the district court did not clearly abuse its discretion in denying Graham’s motion for a new trial because Caves’s testimony, even if erroneously admitted, was not “so prejudicial that a new trial would likely produce a different result.” Harrison v. Purdy Bros. Trucking Co., Inc., 312 F.3d 346, 351 (8th Cir. 2002) (quotation omitted); see Pointer, 417 F.3d at 822.