Court Opinion

ID: 9649998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:18:18.170293+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:16.652405
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, Senior Judge,
dissenting:
An experienced District of Columbia trial judge, fully familiar with the controlling cases on the issue relevant in this appeal, beginning with our decision in Ramsay v. Morrissette, 252 A.2d 509 (D.C.1969), and continuing with such cases as Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Ave. Apartment Corp., 141 U.S.App.D.C. 370, 439 F.2d 477 (D.C.Cir.1970); District of Columbia v. Doe, 524 A.2d 30 (D.C.1987); Potts v. District of Columbia, 697 A.2d 1249 (D.C.1997); and District of Columbia v. Beretta, U.S.A. Corp., 872 A.2d 633 (D.C.2005) (en banc), as well as other cases cited in the majority *876opinion, determined that the DiSalvos had presented a sufficient quantum of evidence from which a reasonable juror, acting reasonably, could conclude that the University of the District of Columbia had breached the duty owed to the DiSalvos under these cases. The trial judge instructed the jury on this issue, instructions to which no relevant objections were made. Based on the evidence and these instructions on the law, twelve residents of the District of Columbia, serving as jurors, unanimously found that the University of the District of Columbia had breached its duty to the DiSal-vos, as defined by our jurisprudence. Now, two judges of this court hold, as a matter of law, that the experienced trial judge and all twelve jurors acted unreasonably. Because I find myself in agreement with the “unreasonable thirteen,” rather than the “reasonable two,” I dissent.