Watson v. Town of Pendleton
| Decision Date | 09 November 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 1062,1062 |
| Citation | 363 S.E.2d 234,294 S.C. 155 |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Steve W. WATSON and Cathy R. Watson, Respondents, v. TOWN OF PENDLETON and Anderson County, South Carolina, Defendants, of whom Anderson County is Appellant. Appeal of ANDERSON COUNTY. . Heard |
Michael F. Mullinax of Long, Thomason & Mullinax, Anderson, for appellant.
Jack F. McIntosh and R. Lawton McIntosh of McIntosh and Sherard, Anderson, for respondents.
Plaintiffs, Steve W. Watson and Cathy R. Watson, owners of a house and lot, seek damages by reason of inverse condemnation of this property by the Town of Pendleton and Anderson County. The case was tried previously and appealed to the Supreme Court of South Carolina. That Court reversed and remanded "... on the issue of damages." Watson v. Town of Pendleton, et al., 289 S.C. 315, 345 S.E.2d 489 (1986). Apparently the new trial was granted because of an error of law as relates to determining the damages issue.
At appropriate stages of the new, now-on-appeal trial, counsel for the defendants made motions for a non-suit and for a directed verdict which were denied. Incident to the denial the judge said: "I'm going to tell the jury they have got to give your client [landowners] some money." In his charge to the jury, the judge said: "But I still want you to find a verdict for the plaintiff,...."
The forms of the verdict submitted to the jury together with instructions thereabout are not clearly set forth in the record.
The jury returned a verdict which read as follows: "We find for the plaintiff zero dollars damages." The judge accepted the verdict and proceeded to hear motions on the part of the landowners "... for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and for a verdict in the amount of $37,350, which is the only evidence in this case as to the value of before and after the taking." The judge granted the motion in a formal written Order wherein he said: "The jury brought a verdict for zero damages, which was contrary to the evidence and contrary to the instructions of this court." His finding and conclusion are supported by the record. South Carolina Highway Department v. Terrain, Inc., 267 S.C. 186, 227 S.E.2d 184 (1976). A new trial outright on the issue of damages was the result. Defendant, Anderson County, has appealed.
It is the contention of counsel that the judge erred in granting the new trial. The In South Carolina the trial judge has a broad discretion sitting as the thirteenth juror to grant a new trial when he is convinced, as obviously here, that justice has not been done in the trial. We find no error in his ruling.
settlement of that issue makes unnecessary treatment of other exceptions.
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Stevens v. Allen
...time of the accident. 2. In several other cases, the Court of Appeals has held such verdicts inadequate. See Watson v. Town of Pendleton, 294 S.C. 155, 363 S.E.2d 234 (Ct.App.1987) (pointing out 3 ways trial court may cure verdict of zero damages); Page v. Crisp, 303 S.C. 117, 399 S.E.2d 16......
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Peeler v. Town of Cowpens, 2010-UP-334
... ... evidence, or the conclusion reached was controlled by an ... error of law."); Watson v. Town of Pendleton, ... 294 S.C. 155, 157-58, 363 S.E.2d 234, 234-35 (Ct. App. 1987) ... (affirming the trial court's grant of a new ... ...