Court Opinion

ID: 9480233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:41:40.740066+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:33.273714
License: Public Domain

BREYER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I agree with the court that the district court’s rules unambiguously require a new judge where there must be a new trial. I also agree that our prior orders are less than clear (and accept a share of the blame). I do not agree, however, that we should order (or should have ordered) a new trial; and, I would clarify the ambiguity by stating that we did not (or do not) do so. Unlike my brethren on this point, I would clarify as follows:
The parties originally tried this case primarily on the theory that pollution crept from Cumberland’s Dairy into Dedham’s wells. The district court found that was not so. On appeal we held that even polluting substances that stopped short of the boundary could have caused compensable expense, if, for example, Dedham had spent money reasonably to keep the pollution away. We thought that Dedham had raised this second theory with sufficient clarity (in my view, with just barely enough clarity) to warrant a finding on the matter. But, (in my view) what is called for is a new finding on an old record; not an entirely new trial. We did not preclude the district court from taking more evidence should it deem that course appropriate. But, that “permission” is not a “new trial” order. Hence, it should be basically up to the district court whether or not “a substantial saving in the time of the whole court” warrants keeping the same judge. Local Rule 8(i).