Honeywell, Inc. v. San Francisco Housing Authority

164 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4529, 2001 WL 376337
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 12, 2001
DocketC97-4314 TEH
StatusPublished

This text of 164 F. Supp. 2d 1130 (Honeywell, Inc. v. San Francisco Housing Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Honeywell, Inc. v. San Francisco Housing Authority, 164 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4529, 2001 WL 376337 (N.D. Cal. 2001).

Opinion

ORDER

THELTON E. HENDERSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff Honeywell, Inc.’s (“Honeywell”) Motion for Judgement as a Matter of Law, or in the Alternative, For a New Trial pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 50(b) and 59. In addition, the Court is in receipt of the parties’ supplemental memoranda regarding plaintiffs Motion for Equitable Relief, which the Court denied . in part and deferred in part in its order of August 31, 2000. Having carefully considered the parties’ written arguments, and the entire record herein, the motions are denied in part and granted in part as set forth below. 1

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brought this action alleging that (1) the San Francisco Housing Authority (“SFHA”) had breached its contract with Honeywell by failing to pay for any of the goods and services provided, and (2) that SFHA had violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by failing to pay Honeywell 50 percent of the energy savings achieved, as a result of the contract, pursuant to 24 C.F.R. *1134 § 990.107(f)(1). After a vigorously tried two-week trial, the jury entered a verdict in favor of SFHA on both counts. With respect to the contract claim, the jury found that (1) Honeywell and the SFHA had “agreed” that financing would be in place as a condition of the contract going into effect, (2) that there was a valid contract between Honeywell and the SFHA, and (3) that the SFHA did not breach the contract. With respect to the § 1983 claim, the jury found that SFHA did not intentionally deprive Honeywell of its rights under federal law.

Honeywell subsequently filed a Motion for Equitable Relief asking the Court to consider its claims for equitable relief and enter judgment in its favor. While the Court found that the circumstances of this case did not warrant an equitable judgment enforcing the payment terms of the contract, it stated that it could “discern no reason why principles of equity do not overwhelmingly favor requiring SFHA to pay Honeywell 50 percent of the savings achieved pursuant to the federal scheme SFHA has benefitted from.” August 31, 2000 Order at 3-4. The Court, however, deferred ruling on this aspect of plaintiffs’ equitable claim and ordered supplemental briefing. Id. at 4.

On October 2, 2000, plaintiff filed its Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law or New Trial pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 50 and 59. Plaintiff contends that (1) Honeywell is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on both the contract and section 1983 claims, and (2) that a new trial is necessary because the jury’s verdict is internally inconsistent, and there is insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. The parties also filed their supplemental briefing on plaintiffs equitable claim.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A motion for judgment notwithstanding of verdict has been renamed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b). According to Rule 50(b), if a verdict is returned by the jury, the district court may allow the judgment to stand, order a new trial, or direct entry of judgment as a matter of law. However, a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law may not be considered unless it is preceded by a motion for the same relief at the close of all the evidence and filed no later than 10 days after the entry of judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b).

In the Ninth Circuit, “[jjudgment as a matter of law is appropriate when the evidence, construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, permits only one reasonable conclusion, which is contrary to the jury’s verdict.” Omega Envt’l, Inc. v. Gilbarco, Inc., 127 F.3d 1157, 1161 (9th Cir.1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 812, 119 S.Ct. 46, 142 L.Ed.2d 36 (1998); see also Baker v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 6 F.3d 632, 644 (9th Cir.1993) (court “ ‘must determine whether the evidence, considered as a whole and viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, reasonably can support only a verdict for the moving party’ ”) (emphasis original) (quoting Gillette v. Delmore, 979 F.2d 1342, 1346 (9th Cir.1992)). In other words, judgment as a matter of law may be granted “[i]f during a trial by jury a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue....” Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1); Juhnke v. EIG Corp., 444 F.2d 1323, 1325 (9th Cir.1971) (noting that directed verdict and motion for judgment notwithstanding verdict “are measured by the same standard as the latter is merely a renewal of the former”) (citations omitted).

*1135 In considering a motion under Rule 50(b), “the district court is not free to weigh the parties’ evidence or to pass on the credibility of witnesses or to substitute its judgment of the facts for that of the jury.” Wright & Miller, 9A FEDERAL Practice & PROCedure: Civil 2d § 2524, 255-56 (1995) (internal citations omitted); see Baker, 6 F.3d at 644 (same); Mosesian v. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., 727 F.2d 873, 877 (9th Cir.1984) (“Neither the district court nor this court may weigh the evidence or order a result it finds more reasonable if substantial evidence supports the jury verdict.”). As the Ninth Circuit has emphasized, where the evidence permits of conflicting inferences, the court is not at liberty to select an inference over one chosen by the jury:

[W]e are “bound to view the evidence in the light most favorable to [the prevailing party] and to give [that party] the benefit of all inferences which the evidence fairly supports, even though contrary inferences might reasonably be drawn.” Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp., 370 U.S. 690, 696, 82 S.Ct. 1404, 1409, 8 L.Ed.2d 111 (1962).... It is the jury, not the judge, which “weighs the contradictory evidence and inferences, judges the credibility of witnesses, receives expert instructions, and draws the ultimate conclusion as to the facts....

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164 F. Supp. 2d 1130, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4529, 2001 WL 376337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/honeywell-inc-v-san-francisco-housing-authority-cand-2001.