Court Opinion

ID: 9470555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:09:12.673258+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:58.285037
License: Public Domain

COFFIN, Chief Judge, dissenting.
I am constrained to dissent, because I do not believe that the court below committed reversible error. My reasons are simple. As to defendant’s argument that the court should have dismissed plaintiff’s bad faith claim prior to trial instead of ruling on it as a motion for a directed verdict, the record indicates that the motion to dismiss was based not on lack of evidence, but on the unconstitutionality of retroactive application of the Rhode Island statute creating a cause of action for bad faith. No ruling was ever made on that issue, nor am I inclined to believe that the argument has much merit. As to the court’s denial of *570defendant’s request for a mistrial, I do not read the statements regarding bad faith in plaintiff’s opening as outrageous enough to require that we second guess the court’s judgment that the trial could proceed. Finally, other than a cryptic comment to the court in a colloquy regarding jury instructions, I do not find any indication that defendant, represented by competent and seasoned trial counsel, ever unambiguously requested an instruction that the jury disregard evidence of bad faith. Accordingly, I am reluctant to reverse the court for not having given such an instruction.