Court Opinion

ID: 9474324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:54:05.08651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:01.217063
License: Public Domain

NEESE, Senior (retired District) Judge,
concurring specially and dissenting.
I concur with the majority except I would also affirm the District Judge’s denial of the insurer’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict of the jury relating to the proceeds of the policy implicated.
The appellees made out a prima facie case against the defendant, and support for the defense of the insurer was dependent solely on the testimony of witnesses who were its employees with an employment interest; this created an issue of credibility and weight for determination by the jury, as the evidence they provided was hardly “possible of contradiction in the circumstances.” See Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co. v. Martin, 283 U.S. 209, 218, 51 S.Ct. 453, 457, 75 L.Ed. 983 (1931). Federal R.Civ.P. 50 “has not taken away from juries and given to judges any part of the exclusive power of juries to weigh the evidence and determine contested issues of fact.” Berry v. United States, 312 U.S. 450, 452-453, 61 S.Ct. 637, 638, 85 L.Ed. 945 (1941); Wolfel v. Sanborn, 555 F.2d 583, 593 (6th Cir.1977) (District Judge not permitted to consider the credibility of evidence in determining motion for directed verdict).
The jury may have disregarded as unbelievable the defense witnesses and found specifically the fact that this insurer would have issued the policy even if it had known the true facts covered up by the misstatement of Mr. Conner. This “Court of Appeals can[not] redetermine facts found by the jury.” Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores, Inc. v. Ellerman Lines, 369 U.S. 355, 358-359, 82 S.Ct. 780, 782, 7 L.Ed.2d 798 (1962) (a diversity case). I dissent respectfully from this part of the per curiam only.