In Re State Public Building Asbestos Litigation

454 S.E.2d 413, 193 W. Va. 119
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 1995
Docket22023-22025
StatusPublished
Cited by126 cases

This text of 454 S.E.2d 413 (In Re State Public Building Asbestos Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re State Public Building Asbestos Litigation, 454 S.E.2d 413, 193 W. Va. 119 (W. Va. 1995).

Opinions

McHUGH, Justice:

The appellants, Asbestospray Corporation, Pfizer, Inc., and W.R. Grace & Co., appeal the September 14, 1998 order of the Circuit Court of Monongalia County which vacated the jury’s verdict, for the appellants and granted a new trial. This case arose as an asbestos property damage case in which the appellees, the State of West Virginia, the City of Spencer and the Monroe County Commission, sought monetary relief for the removal and/or management of asbestos from its public buildings.

I.

The appellants were the manufacturers of the asbestos-containing building materials that may have been installed in twenty-six buildings throughout the State between 1958 and 1973. The appellees filed an action seeking monetary relief for the removal and/or management of the asbestos from its public buildings against the appellants.

After a six-month trial, in which a tremendous amount of evidence was presented to the jury, the trial judge instructed the jury that the asbestos-containing products involved in this case are defective as a matter of law. Therefore, the jury only was to consider whether the appellants’ products were present in one or more buildings, and if their products were present, the amount of damages which should be awarded to the appellees, including past and future costs for in-place management and/or removal.

The jury returned a verdict finding that the appellees were entitled to no damages. Thereafter, the trial judge vacated the jury verdict in a September 14, 1993 order stating:

The Court DIRECTED LIABILITY as a matter of law that asbestos-containing products are inherently dangerous products. This left for the jury the issue of whether the plaintiffs proved that the respective defendants had such products in the buildings at issue, and, if so, the damages resulting from their presence. Therefore, the Court did not direct liability as to any one or more specific defendants. However, during the trial, on the issue of product identification, the existence of a defendant’s product was admitted to be in several of the plaintiff’s [sic] buildings by more than one of the defendants. Additionally, there was more than substantial evidence that all defendants had products in one or more of the subject buddings. There was also an abundance of evidence on the cost of maintenance, removal, and/or repair relating to the products. Nevertheless, the jury returned a verdict of ‘0’ damages. This verdict is manifestly inadequate given the proof presented in the trial of this matter.

The trial judge went on to state that the jury verdict was a “type 1” inadequate award under Freshwater v. Booth, 160 W.Va. 156, 233 S.E.2d 312 (1977);1 therefore, he vacated the jury’s verdict and awarded a new trial only on the issues of product identification and damages.

[124]*124The appellants have asked us to review the trial judge’s September 14, 1993 order. After arguments before this Court on May 4, 1994, this Court requested the parties to provide additional information to assist it with its examination of the voluminous record. Thereafter, the parties reargued the case before this Court on November 2, 1994.

II.

The first issue is whether the trial judge improperly vacated the jury’s verdict and awarded a new trial. In order to resolve this issue, it is necessary to establish the appropriate standard of review of the trial judge’s decision.

A trial judge has the authority to vacate a jury verdict and award a new trial pursuant to Rule 59 of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure which states, in relevant part: “A new trial may be granted to all or any of the parties and on all or part of the issues ... in an action in which there has been a trial by jury, for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law[J” Rule 59 merely recognizes the common law principle that a judge may vacate a verdict of the jury. 11 Charles Aan Wright and Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2801 at 27 (1973).2

Athough the trial judge should rarely grant a new trial, the trial judge, nevertheless, has broad discretion to determine whether or not a new trial should be granted: “Courts do not grant new trials unless it is reasonably clear that prejudicial error has crept into the record or that substantial justice has not been done.... Ultimately the motion invokes the sound discretion of the trial court, and appellate review of its ruling is quite limited.” Wright & Miller, supra at § 2803 at 32-33 (footnotes omitted). However, it has been pointed out:

There are few subjects in the entire field of procedure that have been subject to so much change and controversy in recent years as the proper scope of review of an order granting or denying a motion for a new trial. The trial court has very broad discretion and the appellate courts will defer a great deal to his exercise of this discretion. This much is settled.

Wright & Miller, supra at § 2818 at 118.

On several occasions this Court has addressed the standard of review to be accorded to the decision of the trial judge to set aside a jury verdict and award a new trial. In syllabus points 4 and 5 of Kesner v. Trenton, 158 W.Va. 997, 216 S.E.2d 880 (1975), this Court held:

4. ‘The judgment of a trial court in setting aside a verdict and awarding a new trial is entitled to peculiar weight and its action in this' respect will not be disturbed on appeal unless plainly unwarranted.’ Syllabus point 3., Young v. Duffield, 152 W.Va. 283, 162 S.E.2d 285 (1968).
5. The test in reviewing a judgment setting aside a jury verdict and awarding a new trial is whether the trial court’s discretion in supervising verdicts, so as to prevent a miscarriage of justice, has been abused.

Additionally, in syllabus points 2 and 4 of Young v. Duffield, 152 W.Va. 283, 162 S.E.2d 285 (1968) this Court further provided:

2. ‘It takes a stronger case in an appellate court to reverse a judgment awarding a new trial than one denying it and giving judgment against the party claiming to have been aggrieved.’ Point 1, Syllabus, The Star Piano Co. v. Brockmeyer, 78 W.Va. 780 [, 90 S.E. 338 (1916)].
4. An appellate court is more disposed to affirm the action of a trial court in setting aside a verdict and granting a new [125]*125trial than when such action results in a final judgment denying a new trial.

Another syllabus by this Court emphasizes the legal principle that this Court will not review an order setting aside a jury verdict and awarding a new trial unless it was an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to enter such order:

A trial judge is not merely a referee but is vested with discretion in supervising verdicts and preventing miscarriages of justice, with the power and duty to set a jury verdict aside and award a new trial if it is plainly wrong even if it is supported by some evidence, and when a trial judge so acts, his decision, being in discharge of his power and duty to pass upon the weight of the evidence to that limited extent, is entitled to peculiar weight and will not be disturbed on appeal unless clearly unwarranted.

Syl. pt. 1, Cook v. Harris, 159 W.Va.

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Bluebook (online)
454 S.E.2d 413, 193 W. Va. 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-state-public-building-asbestos-litigation-wva-1995.