Court Opinion

ID: 9768592
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 06:09:10.271798+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:42.048633
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE FOR A TRANSFER TO THE COURT EN BANC
PER CURIAM.
Respondent, by its motion for rehearing, urges that this court should not have directed the entry of judgment in favor of the appellant on the jury’s verdict. Respondent points out that its motion for judgment which the trial court sustained was coupled with an alternative motion for a new trial. Despite the requirement of Civil Rule 72.02, V.A.M.R., the trial court made no ruling on the alternative motion for a new trial.
*295Respondent suggests that, although the trial court made no ruling on the motion for new trial, it clearly considered that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that we should order a new trial on such basis. We reject this suggestion. Having found in favor of the respondent on the estoppel issue, the trial court was obviously required to expunge the jury verdict in order to enter judgment favorable to respondent. We will not speculate on what the trial court might have done had he considered the motion for new trial, as he was required to do.
Respondent alternatively suggests that we should remand with directions to the trial court to consider the motion for new trial. This action was taken when a similar situation confronted this court in State ex rel. and to Use of Hickory County v. Davis, 302 S.W.2d 892, 897-898 [6-10].
The action in Davis was taken with some reluctance, the court noting its disapproval of the practice of treating piecemeal with alternative motions. Davis was decided under § 510.290, RSMo 1949, which did not contain the requirement of Civil Rule 72.02: “If the trial court sustains a motion for judgment in accordance with a directed verdict joined with a motion for new trial in the alternative, the trial court shall make and enter of record a ruling on the alternative motion for new trial to be effective if the ruling on the motion for judgment is reversed.” This added provision was obviously intended to avoid the situation presented in Davis. See Federal Rule 50(c). Litigants who elect to take advantage of the privilege of combining a motion for judgment with an alternative motion for a new trial have an obligation to see that the trial court act, in accordance with Rule 72.02, at the risk of being held to have waived their motion for new trial. See Vera Cruz v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, 7th Cir., 312 F.2d 330, 332 [5],
Appellant has offered no objection to the suggestion advanced by respondent’s motion for rehearing. In the interest of justice, we will in this case modify our original direction and reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause with directions to the trial court to consider and act upon respondent’s motion for a new trial.