Court Opinion

ID: 9661166
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:31:16.869955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:25.953021
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
VOGEL, Justice.
Appellee David Riebe has petitioned for rehearing. He asserts that the court did not make a “conditional” ruling on his alternative motion for new trial, as required by Rule 50(c)(1), North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure. He asks that we modify our previous opinion so as to provide that David Riebe is granted a new trial or in the alternative that David Riebe is granted leave to pursue a new trial in the court below.
The record shows that the memorandum opinion of the trial judge granting the motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict made no reference to any conditional ruling on the alternative motion for a new trial. However, the trial judge’s order itself states that the motion for new trial is denied.
This court has previously remanded cases to the trial court for disposition of alternative motions for new trial. Johnson v. Frelich, 153 N.W.2d 775 (N.D.1967); Chicago, M., St. P. & P. RR. Co. v. Johnston’s Fuel Liners, Inc., 122 N.W.2d 140 (N.D.1963); Smith v. Knutson, 76 N.D. 375, 36 N.W.2d 323 (1949); La Bree v. Dakota Tractor & Equipment Co., 69 N.D. 561, 288 N.W. 476 (1939). In Johnson, Smith, and La Bree, the trial court said nothing about the motion for new trial, and in Chicago, M., St. P. & P. RR. Co., the trial court’s language was construed as not passing on the motion for new trial.
In the total absence of a ruling on the motion for new trial, we would ordinarily remand to the trial court for consideration of the motion for new trial. Here, however, the trial court has considered the motion for new trial and denied it.
We note that some Federal courts have held that, under the circumstances of the particular cases, the appellate court may reverse the trial court and reinstate the judgment originally entered even though the motion for new trial was not ruled upon by the district court. Mays v. Pioneer Lumber Corp., 502 F.2d 106 (4th Cir. 1974); Vera Cruz v. Chesapeake & Ohio RR., 312 F.2d 330 (7th Cir. 1963).
While the rule provides that the trial court “shall specify the grounds for granting or denying the motion for the new trial,” we are aware of no case where the trial court has been reversed for failure to do so. For criticism of this aspect of the rule, see Mays v. Pioneer Lumber Corp., supra, quoting 5A Moore’s Federal Practice, Section 50.14, at page 2382 (2d Ed. 1974), to the effect that appellate courts may order “otherwise” rather than remand to the trial court for disposition of the motion for new trial.
For a case where the denial of the motion for a new trial was phrased very much as it was here, and where the appellate court reversed the order granting judgment notwithstanding the verdict and ordered entry of the original judgment, without further reference to the order for new trial, see Kippen v. Jewkes, 258 F.2d 869 (10th Cir. 1958).
We are satisfied that the rule has been adequately complied with and that a remand would be unavailing and is unnecessary.
We have also examined the merits of the motion for new trial and hold that it was properly denied.
Rehearing is denied.
ERICKSTAD, C. J., and PEDERSON, PAULSON and SAND, JJ., concur.