Tiny's Liquors, Inc. v. Davis
| Decision Date | 06 December 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1300,76-1300 |
| Citation | 353 So.2d 168 |
| Parties | TINY'S LIQUORS, INC., Appellant, v. Paul DAVIS, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Corlett, Merritt, Killian & Sikes, Greene & Cooper, Miami, for appellant.
Horton, Perse & Ginsberg and Arnold R. Ginsberg, Brumer, Moss, Cohen & Rodgers, Miami, for appellee.
Before PEARSON, HUBBART and KEHOE, JJ.
Appellant, defendant below, brings this appeal from a final judgment and cost judgment entered in favor of appellee, plaintiff below, after a jury trial on the issue of whether appellant, pursuant to allegations in the complaint of respondeat superior and negligent hiring and retention, was liable to appellee for personal injuries caused by appellant's employee who purposely set appellee on fire. The jury returned a general verdict in favor of appellee and the trial court entered the judgments appealed. It is contended on appeal that the trial court erred by denying appellant's motion for a directed verdict because there was insufficient evidence to raise a jury question on the issues of respondeat superior and the negligent hiring and retention raised by the complaint. Also, appellant contends that the trial court erred in entering the cost judgment, predicated on the final judgment, in favor of appellee. We have considered all of the points raised by appellant and have concluded that they are without merit. Therefore, the judgments entered by the trial court are affirmed.
As set forth above, appellee advanced two theories in his complaint for recovery against appellant, i.e., respondeat superior and negligent hiring and retention, for the actions of its employee who purposely set fire to appellee, causing him serious bodily injuries. During the jury trial of this cause, appellant moved for a directed verdict both at the close of appellee's case and at the close of all the evidence. The basis of appellant's motions for a directed verdict was that the evidence was insufficient to raise a jury question on either of the theories alleged by appellee for recovery. These motions were denied, the jury returned a general verdict in favor of appellee, and the trial court entered the final judgment and cost judgment which appellant appeals.
Motions for directed verdicts, judgments in accordance with motions for directed verdicts upon which rulings have been withheld and judgments notwithstanding the verdict all share the following rules as to their application by the trial court and on review by an appellate court. They should be cautiously granted and then only when it can be said, after reviewing the evidence and testimony in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, that a jury could not reasonably differ as to the existence of a material fact or a material inference and that the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Put another way, such motions should not be granted when there is any reasonable evidence upon which a jury could legally predicate a verdict in favor of the non-moving party. McCabe v. Watson, ...
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