Hodge v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 38810
Decision Date | 22 April 1970 |
Docket Number | No. 38810,38810 |
Citation | 234 So.2d 645 |
Parties | Iris HODGE, as Administratrix of the Estate of James L. Hodge, deceased, Petitioner, v. JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL COMPANY, a corporation, Respondent. |
Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Horton & Schwartz and Beckham & McAliley, Miami, for petitioner.
Adam G. Adams, II, William H. Maness and Adams & Adams, Jacksonville, for respondent.
In its decision 1 the District Court of Appeal reversed the order of the trial court 'insofar as the same holds that there was no evidence placed before the jury to justify an instruction on the claimed violation of the Safety Appliance Act' but 'affirm(ed) the order granting a new trial on the other ground stated in the order to the effect that the verdict is contrary to the evidence on the authority of Cloud v. Fallis, supra (110 So.2d 669).' Petitioners here assert that the sole question presented to and argued on the appeal of the order granting a new trial to the District Court of Appeal was 'whether the evidence created a jury question as to the railroads violation of the Safety Appliance Act so that the jury was properly instructed on that issue,' and, therefore, that such decision is in direct conflict with Nunberg v. Brodsky, 2 holding in part:
The district court's conclusion that the trial judge did not err in granting a new trial 'if he finds that the jury was influenced by consideration outside the record as he Appears to have in the case at bar' is obviously erroneous because the trial judge made no such finding in the order. On the contrary, the order specifically stated:
'* * * the Court has reached the conclusion that there was no evidence upon which the jury could lawfully have found that the defendant violated the Safety Appliance Act (45 U.S.C., Sec. 9 et seq) as charged in Count II of the Amended Complaint and that the Court erred in submitting that issue to the jury for determination. * * *'
The order then adjudged: 3
We construe the order of the trial judge referring to ground no. 1 in the Motion for New Trial to have reference solely to facts concerning the submission to the jury of the Safety Appliance Act aspect of the case which was his principal concern--and obviously the concern of the parties on appeal to the district court. Setting aside a jury verdict on this ground requires more than a cursory disposition of a ground of a Motion of New Trial that 'the verdict is contrary to the evidence.' There should be an independent determination by the trial judge that 'the jury was influenced by considerations outside the record.' We find no determination in this record to support he district court's conclusion on this respect. On the contrary, ground 13 of the Motion for New Trial specifically charged that 'the jury was motivated by passion, prejudice, bias or some other improper motive and/or that the passions of the jury were inflamed by circumstances outside of the evidence in the case. * * * ' This paragraph was denied in the order of the trial judge.
The reliance by the district court on our decision in Cloud v. Fallis 4 to support its decision affirming the order granting the new trial because the verdict was 'contrary to the evidence' is misplaced. The motion for new trial did not allege and the trial judge did not find that the verdict was against 'the manifest weight of the evidence' which is the rule announced in Cloud v. Fallis, Supra. 5
That portion of the decision of the district court which affirms the order granting a new trial is hereby quashed and the cause is remanded to the district court with directions to remand to the trial court with instructions to enter an appropriate judgment on the jury verdict.
It is so ordered.
3 The grounds #1, 2, 3, 4 and 22 of the Motion for New Trial were:
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