Wilson v. City of Hazelwood, Mo.
| Decision Date | 14 April 2008 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 4:06CV1292MLM. |
| Citation | 628 F.Supp.2d 1063 |
| Parties | David WILSON, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF HAZELWOOD, MISSOURI, Todd Greeves, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Stephen M. Ryals, Ryals & Breed, P.C., W. Bevis Schock, Schock Law, St. Louis, MO, for Plaintiff.
Peter J. Dunne, Rabbitt and Pitzer, St. Louis, MO, for Defendants.
Before the court is the Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict or for New Trial filed by Defendant Todd Greeves.1 Doc. 68. Plaintiff David Wilson filed a Memorandum in Opposition. Doc. 79. This case was tried before a jury on February 11-13, 2008. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff and awarded $7,500 in actual damages and $10,000 in punitive damages.
Defendant moves for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial based on the following grounds: (1) the verdict in favor of Plaintiff was against the greater weight of the evidence; (2) the verdict in favor of Plaintiff was contrary to the law; (3) the trial court erred in bifurcating the trial into phases for a determination of Defendant's liability to Plaintiff for actual damages and for additional and further punitive damages; (4) the trial court erred in failing to give Defendant's proffered jury instruction on Plaintiff's claim for a civil rights violation; (5) the trial court erred in admitting evidence over Defendant's objection in the punitive damage phase of the trial that Defendant had been the subject of other unrelated citizen complaints and that Defendant had been referred to counseling by his department; (6) the trial court erred in sustaining Plaintiff's objection to opinion testimony of Hazelwood Police Lieutenant McKenna; and (7) the trial court erred in failing to enter judgment as a matter of law in favor of Defendant at the close of all evidence and at the close of Plaintiff's case.
Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "confirms the trial court's historic power to grant a new trial based on its appraisal of the fairness of the trial and the reliability of the jury's verdict." Gray v. Bicknell, 86 F.3d 1472, 1480 (8th Cir.1996). "The authority to grant a new trial ... is confided almost exclusively to the exercise of discretion on the part of the trial court." Sanford v. Crittenden Mem. Hosp., 141 F.3d 882, 884 (8th Cir.1998).
The standard upon which this court must consider a motion for a new trial differs from that which the court applies to a motion for a judgment as a matter of law. A motion for a new trial should only be granted if "the jury's verdict is against the great weight of the evidence so as to constitute a miscarriage of justice." Denesha v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 161 F.3d 491, 497 (8th Cir.1998) (citations omitted). "In determining whether a verdict is against the weight of the evidence, the trial court can rely on its own reading of the evidence—it can `weigh the evidence, disbelieve witnesses, and grant a new trial even where there is substantial evidence to sustain the verdict.'" Harris v. Sec'y U.S. Dept. of the Army, 119 F.3d 1313, 1318 (8th Cir.1997) (quoting White v. Pence, 961 F.2d 776, 780 (8th Cir.1992)). The district court, however, may not "reweigh the evidence and set aside the jury verdict merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences or conclusions or because judges feel that other results are more reasonable." Id.
Rule 50(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "[a] motion for judgment as a matter of law may be made at any time before the case is submitted to the jury." Rule 50(b) provides that "[w]ithin 10 days after the entry of judgment ... the movant may file a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and may include an alternative or joint request for a new trial under Rule 59."2 A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, therefore, "is in essence a renewal of a motion for [judgment as a matter of law] made at the close of the evidence." Lowe v. Conlee, 742 F.2d 1140, 1141 (8th Cir.1984) (citing Johnson v. Rogers, 621 F.2d 300, 305 (8th Cir.1980)). "Consequently, a party cannot assert a ground in a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict that was not previously asserted in the party's motion for [judgment as a matter of law]." Id. (citing Johnson, 621 F.2d at 305).
The Eight Circuit has set forth the test for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict as follows:
Both the trial court and this court must (1) consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party; (2) assume all evidentiary conflicts are resolved in favor of the prevailing party; (3) assume as proved all facts which the prevailing party's evidence tends to prove; (4) give the prevailing party the benefit of all favorable inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the facts proved; and (5) deny the motion if reasonable minds could differ as to the conclusion to be drawn from the evidence. See 278 F.2d at 596. "Circumstantial as well as direct evidence ... is relevant to a determination of sufficiency" of evidence to support a jury verdict, and "(a) verdict may be directed or a jury verdict overturned `only where the evidence points all one way and is susceptible of no reasonable inferences sustaining the position of the nonmoving party.'" Zoll v. Eastern Allamakee Community School District, 588 F.2d 246, 250 (8th Cir.1978).
Coleman v. Burlington N., Inc., 681 F.2d 542, 545 (8th Cir.1982) (citing Hanson v. Ford Motor Co., 278 F.2d 586 (8th Cir. 1960)).
Defendant was employed by the City of Hazelwood as a public safety officer and Plaintiff was employed by the Robertson Fire Protection District. On May 12, 2004, both Defendant and Plaintiff responded to a two-vehicle auto accident at Interstate 270 and McDonnell Boulevard with Defendant arriving at the scene prior to Plaintiff. When Plaintiff arrived on the scene he exited the fire engine in which he arrived and which was parked in lane two of Interstate 270 and proceeded to one of the vehicles involved in the accident.4 Defendant approached the fire engine and instructed Engineer Zeier to move the fire engine to lane one. Pursuant to Plaintiff's instruction, Engineer Zeier disregarded Defendant's instruction to move the fire engine. Defendant then arrested Plaintiff. At trial the jury viewed a video depicting, without sound, these events numerous times. Defendant testified that he arrested Plaintiff for failing to obey the direction of a police official and for illegal parking/stopping pursuant to the City of Hazelwood's municipal code.
This court previously held, in relevant part, pursuant to a Motion for Summary Judgment, that to the extent that relevant State statutes and City ordinances were in conflict, State statutes are controlling in this matter; that Plaintiff and his crew were entitled to park their fire engine irrespective of the traffic laws and/or City ordinances; that probable cause did not exist to arrest Plaintiff for refusing to move the fire engine and/or to direct his crew to do so; that there was a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment; that at the relevant time Defendant knew that State statutes prevailed over City ordinances and that State statutes provide authority for a firefighter to park irrespective of other statutory provisions; that reasonable minds could differ as to whether or not Defendant's conduct was objectively unreasonable or that Defendant should have known his conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right; and that Defendant was entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiff's civil rights claim if Defendant's conduct was objectively reasonable or if Defendant should not have known that his conduct violated clearly established constitutional rights. Doc. 30.
In regard to Plaintiff's State battery claim the court held that Defendant was entitled to official immunity unless he acted with bad faith or with malice and that there was a genuine issue of material fact in this regard. Doc. 30.
The issues submitted to the jury were: (a) Plaintiff's civil rights claim pursuant to which the jury was instructed to find in favor of Plaintiff if they found that the greater weight of the evidence established that Defendant's seizure of Plaintiff was unreasonable; (b) Plaintiff's state law false imprisonment claim pursuant to which the jury was instructed to find in favor of Plaintiff if it found that Defendant intentionally restrained Plaintiff against his will and that Defendant acted with bad faith and malice; and (c) Plaintiff's state law battery claim pursuant to which the jury was instructed to find in favor of Plaintiff if it found that Defendant intentionally touched Plaintiff, that Defendant thereby caused Plaintiff bodily harm, that defendant thereby caused a contact with Plaintiff which was offensive to Plaintiff, that such conduct would be offensive to a reasonable person, and that Defendant acted with bad faith and malice. Doc. 65. As stated above, the jury found favor of Plaintiff and awarded him $7,500 in actual damages for the above stated claims. After the jury returned this verdict the parties presented additional evidence. The jury then found that Plaintiff was entitled to punitive damages in the amount of $10,000.
Defendant's Point # 1—The verdict in favor of Plaintiff was against the greater weight of the evidence:
In the matter under consideration the jury was required to determine how much to compensate Plaintiff for injuries not easily calculable in economic terms. Such an award is highly subjective and the assessment of damages is within the sound discretion of the jury. See Jenkins v. McLean Hotels, Inc., 859 F.2d 598, 600 (8th Cir.1988) (quoting Stafford v. Neurological Medicine, Inc., 811...
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