Heaton v. Waters

445 P.2d 458, 8 Ariz. App. 256, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 517
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedSeptember 25, 1968
Docket2 CA-CIV 420
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 445 P.2d 458 (Heaton v. Waters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heaton v. Waters, 445 P.2d 458, 8 Ariz. App. 256, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 517 (Ark. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinions

MOLLOY, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order granting a new trial. The plaintiff, Curtis Waters, was crossing Speedway Boulevard, a main artery in the City of Tucson, on foot on the evening of August 21, 1964, when he [258]*258•was Struck and injured by an automobile being driven by the defendant, Roy Heaton. ■On trial of the case, the jury returned a verdict for defendants. The order of the trial judge granting plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial sets forth the following grounds:

.“A. That the verdict was contrary to the evidence in that
“1) reasonable persons could not differ as to the existence of negligence on the part of the defendant, Roy Gene Heaton,
“2) reasonable persons could not differ that plaintiff was either not guilty of contributory negligence or that his negligence had ceased prior to the collision.
“B.' That the verdict was the result of passion and prejudice and contrary to the competent evidence by reason of
“1) the injection into the trial by defense counsel of prejudicial remarks in his closing argument wherein he referred to plaintiff as being drunk which was contrary to any evidence, and
“2) defense counsel’s argument concerning the payment of plaintiffs’ medical bills by plaintiffs’ insurance carrier, which argument continued over the Court sustaining the objection of plaintiffs’ counsel as to the argument and which was continued after the Court admonished the counsel from continuing with said argument.
“C. The Court erred in the rejection into evidence of plaintiffs’ Exhibit 31 which the Court in its discretion should have admitted.
“D. 1) The Court erred in the giving of Defendants’ Requested Jury Instructions Nos. 1, 8, 10, 11 and 13.
“2) The Court erred in the refusal to give Plaintiffs’ Requested Jury Instructions Nos. 1, 7, 11 and 13.
“3) The Court erred in not instructing the jury that the defendant was guilty of negligence.
“E. That the plaintiffs were deprived of a’fair trial by reason of the improper conduct of defense counsel in his closing argument consisting of 'the following particulars:
“1) Referring to plaintiffs’ medical bills having been paid by plaintiffs’ medical insurance carrier.
“2) Relating plaintiff’s conduct to that of a criminal.
“3) Referring to plaintiff as a 'staggering drunk jay-walker’.”

Five distinct grounds, with sub-grounds, have been delineated in this order. If any one of the grounds assigned is valid, we must affirm. Aguilar v. Carpenter, 1 Ariz.App. 36, 399 P.2d 124 (1965).

Defendants’ first contention is that the order, and particularly paragraph “A” thereof, is insufficiently specific to satisfy the requirements of Rule 59(m) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and that such failure has the effect of shifting the burden to plaintiffs-appellees to convince us that the trial court did not err in ordering a new trial. Reliance is taken upon Yoo Thun Lim v. Crespin, 100 Ariz. 80, 411 P.2d 809 (1966), and similar authorities recently cited and applied by this court in Montalvo v. Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 5 Ariz.App. 419, 427 P.2d 553 (1967), and Oana v. Haskell, 8 Ariz.App. 493, 441 P.2d 259 (1968).

Rule 59(m) reads as follows:

“No order granting a new trial shall be made and entered unless the order specifies with particularity the ground ' or grounds on which the new trial is granted.”

16 A.R.S.

The rule is designed to inform both the parties and the appellate court of the particular ground or grounds upon which the trial court has acted in granting a new trial, and so to prevent a situation where both appellant and the appellate court are “ * * * compelled to speculate as to the reasons for ordering a new trial.” Yoo Thun Lim v. Crespin, 100 Ariz. 80, 83, 411 P.2d 809, 811 (1966).

In terms of the general grounds for new trial authorized by Rule 59(a), it is ap[259]*259parent that ground “A” of the trial court’s ■order embodies the trial judge’s conviction that the verdict of the jury for defendants -was “ * * * not justified by the evidence * * *.” See Rule 59(a) (8). Ground “A” tells us, in effect, that the trial judge thought that the evidence clearly established negligence on the part of the defendant-driver and the plaintiff-pedestrian’s freedom from contributory negligence.

The rule adopted by our Supreme Court in Yoo Thun Lim v. Crespin, supra, came from Missouri. We have looked to Missouri decisions, but do not find in them any clear indication as to whether ground “A” would be considered sufficiently particularized. We have found, however, a recent decision of a California appellate court which suggests that, under California’s newly revised statute,1 regarding new trial orders, ground “A” would be more than adequate to meet that state’s statutory specificity requirements. Construing the California statute, as amended through 1965,2 the court stated, in Kincaid v. Sears, Roebuck & Company, 259 A.C.A. 770, 66 Cal.Rptr. 915 (1968) :

“We consider that such a brief recital of the respects in which the evidence is •legally inadequate might be accomplished in the ordinary negligence action after verdict and judgment for plaintiff, by a specification that ‘the defendant was not negligent’ or that ‘the defendant’s negligence was not the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries’ or that ‘the plaintiff was contributorily negligent’ or that ‘the plaintiff suffered no damages.’ ”
66 Cal.Rptr. at 919.

In Yoo Thun Lim, the Supreme Court noted that the word “particularity,” as used in Rule 59(m), meant “‘in a detail,”’ 100 Ariz. 80, 82, 411 P.2d 809, 810, and in Rogers v. Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co., 100 Ariz. 154, 164, 412 P.2d 272, 279 (1966), the court noted the failure of the order there under consideration to “ * * * specify in any detail wherein there was a lack of evidence from which the jury could infer negligence.” In view of that language in those decisions, we cannot place an unqualified imprimatur upon the statement of grounds contained in ground “A” of the order now before us, however, we think that it does tell us enough so that we can, without speculation, review the evidence to determine whether the trial judge acted within the limits of his discretion in ordering a new trial on the ground stated.

Were this a stereotype form of order, or a mere copying of verbiage in a motion for new trial, our view might be different.

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Heaton v. Waters
445 P.2d 458 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
445 P.2d 458, 8 Ariz. App. 256, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heaton-v-waters-arizctapp-1968.