Court Opinion

ID: 9650352
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:32:47.319883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:20.535194
License: Public Domain

On Petition for Rehearing.
PER CURIAM.
Upon petition for rehearing appellee asserts that not only were we in error in not affirming the decision of the trial court on the merits, but also that we erred in our direction to that court to dismiss on the merits. We find no question raised as to the merits'which was not discussed in our original opinion, hence we do not now discuss the questions as to them.
*716As to the direction to dismiss, appellee contends that in not at least remanding for new trial, we deny her the right of trial by jury guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. She relies upon two decisions of the United States Supreme Court in support of her contention, Slocum v. New York Life Ins. Co., 228 U.S. 364, 33 S.Ct. 523, 57 L.Ed. 879, Ann.Cas.l914D, 1029, and Aetna Ins. Co. v. Kennedy, 301 U. S. 389, 57 S.Ct. 809, 81 L.Ed. 1177. In the Slocum case, the Court laid down a very general rule that in case of the reversal of a judgment entered on a verdict which the appellate court found should be vacated for insufficiency of evidence to support it, the direction of the appellate court should be for new trial rather than for the entry of a judgment for the defendant notwithstanding the verdict. This rule was subsequently modified by the same court in Baltimore & Carolina Line v. Redman, 295 U.S. 654, 55 S.Ct. 890, 79 L.Ed. 1636. The Court based its express modification of the earlier ruling on a distinction which it found between the two cases, in that in the earlier, there had been no reservation of the ruling on the motion for a directed verdict, whereas in the Redman case, the ruling had been expressly reserved until after verdict when the court ruled on the sufficiency of the evidence. The Supreme Court held that this presented a question of law rather than a question of fact, and that the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was in error in remanding for a new trial instead of directing dismissal of the cause on the merits. This distinction was adverted to in the Aetna case, and the decision in the Redman case was held inapplicable on the ground that there had been no reservation of ruling.
Since the decision of the three cases above, the adoption of the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, has, in effect, done away with the distinction between cases as to whether or not there was an express reservation of ruling. Rule 50(b) provides : “Whenever a motion for a directed verdict made at the close of all the evidence is denied or for any reason is not granted, the court is deemed to have submitted the action to the jury subject to a later determination of the legal questions raised by the motion. Within 10 days after the reception of a verdict, a party who has moved for a directed verdict may move to have the verdict and any judgment entered thereon set aside and to have judgment entered in accordance with his motion for a directed verdict * * *. A motion for a new trial may be joined with this motion, or a new trial may be prayed for in the alternative. If a verdict was returned the court may allow the judgment to stand or may reopen the judgment and either order a new trial or direct the entry of judgment as if the requested verdict had been directed. * * * ”
In commenting on this hule, Moore’s Federal Practice, Vol. 3, p. 3110, says: “The only change the Rule effects in the common law practice is to make the reservation automatic. Although there is some English authority that consent of the parties and/or the jury was necessary at common law, this authority was not considered controlling. * * * ”
Here, motion was duly made for the directed verdict, which was taken under advisement and later denied. Without thq new Rule, this would undoubtedly bring the case within the purview of the Slocum case, and we would be required to remand for new trial. However, within ten days after reception of the verdict, appellant filed two motions, one to set aside the verdict and for new trial, and the other to set aside the verdict and enter judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Both were duly denied, and judgment entered on the verdict. We think this action of the defendant preserved its rights under the Rule, so that it is now entitled to direction of a judgment without new trial. When the Supreme Court decided the Redman case, it ordered that the judgment of the Court of Appeals be modified by substituting a direction for a judgment of dismissal on the-merits in place of the direction for a new trial. It had previously stated that this judgment of dismissal would be the equivalent of a judgment for the defendant on a verdict directed in its favor. It appears that the Rule seeks to extend and crystallize the practice prescribed in the Redman case, hence our directions for dismissal on the merits.
Petition for rehearing denied.