Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp.
| Decision Date | 27 February 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 4360.,4360. |
| Citation | 195 F.2d 104 |
| Parties | KANATSER v. CHRYSLER CORP. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Phil E. Daugherty, Oklahoma City, Okl. (Ames, Daugherty, Bynum & Black, Oklahoma City, Okl., were with him on the brief), for appellant.
David A. Richardson, Oklahoma City, Okl. (Richardson, Shartel & Cochran, Frank M. Dudley, Oklahoma City, Okl., and Byron A. Carse, Detroit, Mich., were with him on the brief), for appellee.
Before BRATTON, MURRAH and PICKETT, Circuit Judges.
Ruth Kanatser instituted this action against The Chrysler Corporation to recover damages arising out of an automobile accident. The cause was tried to a jury and a verdict was returned for plaintiff. Defendant seasonably filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and in the alternative for a new trial. Excessiveness of the verdict was not a ground of the motion for new trial. The motion was silent in respect to the verdict being excessive in amount. At a hearing on the motion held approximately seven months after its filing the court indicated that in its opinion the verdict was excessive and ordered plaintiff to accept or reject within five days a remittitur reducing the amount of the recovery to $15,000. Plaintiff declined to remit. The court entered an order providing that defendant's motion for new trial be granted on the ground that the verdict was excessive and plaintiff failed to file a remittitur as required by the court; and the order expressly provided that the verdict, and judgment spread of record at the time of the return of the verdict, be set aside. Plaintiff appealed from the order granting a new trial.
The question whether this court has jurisdiction is presented on the face of the record. Section 1291, Title 28, United States Code, provides that the courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts, except where a direct review may be had in the Supreme Court; and section 1292 expressly authorizes appeals from certain interlocutory orders and decrees and from judgments in actions for patent infringement which are final except for accounting. Courts of appeal are courts of limited jurisdiction; and save for excepted instances, they have jurisdiction to review only final decisions of the district courts. Reeves v. Beardall, 316 U.S. 283, 62 S.Ct. 1085, 86 L.Ed. 1478; Roche v. Evaporated Milk Association, 319 U.S. 21, 63 S.Ct. 938, 87 L.Ed. 1185; Breeding Motor Freight Lines v. Reconstruction Finance Corp., 10 Cir., 172 F.2d 416, certiorari denied 338 U.S. 814, 70 S.Ct. 54, 94 L.Ed. 493.
This appeal was not taken from a final judgment. Neither was it taken from an order of the kind from which an appeal is expressly authorized by statute. It was taken from an order granting a new trial. And it is well settled that an order of that...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp., 4434.
...to this court. We dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the order granting the new trial was not appealable. Kanatser v. Chrysler Corporation, 10 Cir., 195 F.2d 104. Thereafter, we granted leave to file this application for a writ of certiorari, to determine whether in the circumstances,......
-
O'Gilvie v. International Playtex, Inc.
...a plaintiff cannot immediately appeal the grant of a new trial when he has rejected the remittitur. See Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp., 195 F.2d 104, 105 (10th Cir.1952); see also Higgins v. Smith Int'l, Inc., 716 F.2d 278, 281 (5th Cir.1983); Eaton v. Nat'l Steel Prods. Co., 624 F.2d 863, 864 ......
-
Delano v. Kitch, s. 79-1065
...granting a new trial, however, are not final and appealable. Stradley v. Cortez, 518 F.2d 488, 491 (3d Cir. 1975); Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp., 195 F.2d 104 (10th Cir. 1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 921, 73 S.Ct. 388, 97 L.Ed. 710 (1953). 12 Alternatively, Delano and Bloom have asked this Cou......
-
Bros Incorporated v. WE Grace Manufacturing Company
...Milton v. United States, 5 Cir., 1941, 120 F.2d 794; Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Mims, 5 Cir., 1952, 199 F.2d 582; Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp., 10 Cir., 1952, 195 F.2d 104; 6 Moore, Federal Practice, Par. 59.15, p. 3891 (2d ed. 1952); 3 Barron & Holtzoff, Federal Practice & Procedure, § 13......