Court Opinion

ID: 9851398
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:11:53.433407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:55.257359
License: Public Domain

Judge Wynn
concurring in alternate reasoning,
I agree with the alternate reasoning offered by the majority that the trial judge’s decision to award a new trial was grounded in a misapprehension of law. A verdict of zero damages is not appropriate in an instance where a defendant concedes a breach of the standard of care and that such breach caused the plaintiff an injury. In this case, however, the record indicates that the defendant did not concede causation. In fact, the trial judge instructed the jury that the plaintiff had to prove causation and the amount of the damages. While such an instruction should have lead to the submission of two issues — one on causation and a second dependent issue on the amount of damages— the trial court’s instruction to the jury allowed the jury to determine that the defendant’s breach was not a cause of plaintiff’s injury. Therefore, a verdict of zero is a “legal verdict.”
I do not agree with the majority’s holding that the trial judge in this case was required to make findings of facts to support the award of a new trial. A new trial awarded under Rule 59(d) requires findings only in the instance where the trial court has made an entry of judgment and thereafter within 10 days of having done so, the court on its own initiative orders a new trial. See Glen Forest Corp. v. Bensch, 9 N.C. App. 587, 589, 176 S.E.2d 851, 853 (1970). In this case, the trial judge had not entered judgment and therefore could in its discretion award a new trial without making findings of fact.