Court Opinion

ID: 9578356
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:44:29.310875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:45.522406
License: Public Domain

RABINOWITZ, Justice,
dissenting in part.
Although I agree with the court’s ruling that the superior court did not abuse its discretion in granting the Colvers’ request for new trial, I do not agree that the second trial should have been limited to the issue of damages alone. In my view the jury’s verdict in the first trial did not establish Sebring’s liability for the full amount of damages sought by the Colvers, and thus it was error to remove the issue of liability from the second trial.
Throughout the proceedings in this case Sebring more or less agreed that the Col-vers’ home suffered from a number of defects but contended that most of the home’s problems were attributable to design features upon which the Colvers insisted or to defects in work for which he was not responsible rather than to any shortcomings in his workmanship.
In light of the fact that Sebring’s liability was contested, the first jury’s relatively low damages award indicates one of several possibilities. First, the jury might have concluded that only a small portion of the home’s defects were Sebring’s fault. Second, the jury might have reached a compromise verdict, awarding relatively low damages in order to secure the votes of jurors who entertained doubts about Se-bring’s liability for any damages. Third, the jury’s deliberations might have been influenced by the passing reference to the value which the Colvers placed upon their house during settlement negotiations. Fourth, the jury might have been confused by the many collateral matters which were presented during the protracted first trial. Regardless which of these explanations is correct, one point is clear: it is impossible to say with certainty that the first jury’s verdict established Sebring’s liability for the full amount of the Colvers’ damages. Thus, I would hold that the superior court erred in removing the issue of Sebring’s liability from the second trial.