Brown v. Taylor

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

Brown v. Taylor

221 A.D.2d 208, 633 N.Y.S.2d 170, 1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11618

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedNovember 14, 1995

StatusPublished

Cited by4 cases

This text of 221 A.D.2d 208 (Brown v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Brown v. Taylor, 221 A.D.2d 208, 633 N.Y.S.2d 170, 1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11618 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1995).

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Opinion

—Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Alan Saks, J.), entered May 10, 1995, granting plaintiffs’ motion to set aside the verdict, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, the motion denied and the verdict reinstated.

In this rather routine two-vehicle accident tried on the issue of liability only, damages having been stipulated to at the sum of $250,000, said sum to be reduced proportionately by any comparative negligence assessed against the plaintiff driver, the jury was presented with a classic case of conflicting accounts, which it resolved in favor of the defendants, a bus [209]*209driver and his employer. While a trial court may, in the exercise of discretion, set aside a verdict, it may not do so merely because it disagrees with the result. Its power in this area must be exercised with caution since, in the absence of an indication that substantial justice has not been done, a litigant is entitled to the benefit of a favorable verdict. Fact-finding is within the province of the jury, not the trial court. "[A] jury verdict in favor of a defendant should not be set aside unless 'the jury could not have reached the verdict on any fair interpretation of the evidence’.” (Nicastro v Park, 113 AD2d 129, 134, quoting Delgado v Board of Educ., 65 AD2d 547, affd 48 NY2d 643; see, Ellis v Hoelzel, 57 AD2d 968.) In the instant case, there is no basis upon which to set aside the verdict. Concur—Sullivan, J. P., Kupferman, Williams and Tom, JJ.

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—Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Alan Saks, J.), entered May 10, 1995, granting plaintiffs’ motion to set aside the verdict, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, the motion denied and the verdict reinstated.

In this rather routine two-vehicle accident tried on the issue of liability only, damages having been stipulated to at the sum of $250,000, said sum to be reduced proportionately by any comparative negligence assessed against the plaintiff driver, the jury was presented with a classic case of conflicting accounts, which it resolved in favor of the defendants, a bus [209]*209driver and his employer. While a trial court may, in the exercise of discretion, set aside a verdict, it may not do so merely because it disagrees with the result. Its power in this area must be exercised with caution since, in the absence of an indication that substantial justice has not been done, a litigant is entitled to the benefit of a favorable verdict. Fact-finding is within the province of the jury, not the trial court. "[A] jury verdict in favor of a defendant should not be set aside unless 'the jury could not have reached the verdict on any fair interpretation of the evidence’.” (Nicastro v Park, 113 AD2d 129, 134, quoting Delgado v Board of Educ., 65 AD2d 547, affd 48 NY2d 643; see, Ellis v Hoelzel, 57 AD2d 968.) In the instant case, there is no basis upon which to set aside the verdict. Concur—Sullivan, J. P., Kupferman, Williams and Tom, JJ.

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Bluebook (online)

221 A.D.2d 208, 633 N.Y.S.2d 170, 1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-taylor-nyappdiv-1995.

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