Court Opinion

ID: 9883843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:22:07.899105+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:32.027874
License: Public Domain

*362NIERENGARTEN, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. While a jury is not required to accept uncontradicted testimony if it is improbable or if surrounding facts and circumstances provide reasonable grounds for doubting its credibility, Waite v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co., 352 N.W.2d 19, 22 (Minn.1984), it is equally true that a jury cannot arbitrarily reject “the unanimous opinion of * * * qualified experts, based upon uncontradict-ed facts * * Kundiger v. Prudential Insurance Co., 219 Minn. 25, 29, 17 N.W.2d 49, 52 (1945) (citation omitted). See also Fidelity Bank and Trust Co. v. Fitzimons, 261 N.W.2d 586, 590 (Minn.1977) (a “jury cannot disregard the positive testimony of an unimpeached witness without a reasonable ground for doing so”). Here, the unanimous and uncontradicted testimony of three medical experts indicates that Olga Rud sustained permanent injuries. No reasonable doubt or fact issue was created by adverse medical testimony or through the cross-examination of Rud’s three experts. Thus, I conclude that the jury’s verdict is perverse and palpably contrary to the evidence, and that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Rud’s motion for a new trial. Accordingly, I would reverse and remand for a new trial to determine the appropriate amount of damages.