Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.

853 F. Supp. 2d 1094, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17810, 2012 WL 468378
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedFebruary 14, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 09-cv-02977-REB-KLM
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 853 F. Supp. 2d 1094 (Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 853 F. Supp. 2d 1094, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17810, 2012 WL 468378 (D. Colo. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL

BLACKBURN, District Judge.

The matter before me is Defendant’s Motion To Alter or Amend Judgment or, in the Alternative, Motion for New Trial on Damages [# 179]1 filed August 10, 2011. I deny the motion.

I. JURISDICTION

I have subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question).

[1097]*1097II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Defendant seeks to alter or amend the judgment pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 59(a) and (e) based on alleged error in the jury instructions. The bases for granting such a motion are limited and include:

(1) an intervening change in the controlling law, (2) new evidence previously unavailable, and (3) the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice. Thus, a motion for reconsideration[2] is appropriate where the court has misapprehended the facts, a party’s position, or the controlling law. It is not appropriate to revisit issues already addressed or advance arguments that could have been raised in prior briefing.

Servants of the Paraclete v. Does, 204 F.3d 1005, 1012 (10th Cir.2000) (citations omitted). A motion to alter or amend the judgment thus will not be granted except where there is a “need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Id.

Alternatively, defendant seeks a new trial on the issue of damages on the grounds that I erroneously admitted plaintiffs summary damages exhibit and/or that the jury’s verdict as to damages was not supported by the evidence. When a case has been tried to a jury, a new trial may be granted “for any of the reasons for which new trial have heretofore been granted in actions at law in the courts of the United States.” Fed.R.CivP. 59(a)(1). A motion for new trial “is not regarded with favor and should only be granted with great caution.” United States v. Kelley, 929 F.2d 582, 586 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 926, 112 S.Ct. 341, 116 L.Ed.2d 280 (1991). The decision whether to grant a new trial is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Id.

In order to secure a new trial based on an allegedly improper evidentiary ruling, defendant must show that my evidentiary rulings were both clearly erroneous and so prejudicial that “it can be reasonably concluded that with or without such evidence, there would have been a contrary result.” Hinds v. General Motors Corp., 988 F.2d 1039, 1049 (10th Cir.1993). “Neither an error in the admission or exclusion of evidence nor an error in a ruling or order of the court, nor anything done or omitted by the court, can be grounds for granting a new trial unless the error or defect affects the substantial rights of the parties.” Stewart v. South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, Inc., 36 F.Supp.2d 919, 920 (D.Kan.1999).

' A motion for a new trial based on the ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence presents a question of fact. Patton v. TIC United Corp., 77 F.3d 1235, 1242 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 518 U.S. 1005, 116 S.Ct. 2525, 135 L.Ed.2d 1049 (1996); Brown v. McGraw-Edison Co., 736 F.2d 609, 616 (10th Cir.1984). In reviewing the motion, I may “not weigh the evidence, pass on the credibility of the witnesses, or substitute [my] conclusions for that of the jury.” Minshall v. McGraw Hill Broadcasting Co., 323 F.3d 1273, 1279 (10th Cir.2003) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The motion should be granted only “if the evidence points but one way and is susceptible to no reasonable inferences supporting the party opposing the motion.” Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

III. ANALYSIS

Defendant claims that I erred in instructing the jury on reliance damages because such are not recognized under the [1098]*1098law of the District of Columbia, which governed plaintiffs breach of oral contract claim. Further, and alternatively, it claims that a new trial on the issue of damages is warranted because of the erroneous admission of a summary damages exhibit and/or because the jury’s verdict as to damages was unsupportable. I disagree on all three fronts, and, therefore, deny the motion.

A. Reliance Damages as Alternative Measure for Breach of Contract

Prior to trial the parties submitted their jury instructions, which included two instructions relating to damages for breach of contract. The first purported to inform the jury how to calculate damages for breach of contract:

The measure of damages for a breach of contract is that amount of money necessary to place the injured party in the same economic position it would have been in if the contract had not been breached. To calculate the damages, first determine the amount of money Iowa Pacific would have received had the contract not been breached. Next, add both incidental damages and consequential damages, if any. Lastly, subtract from that any money it saved because it did not have to complete the contract.
Incidental damages include any costs Iowa Pacific incurred while making reasonable efforts to avoid losses, whether the efforts were successful or not. Consequential damages include damages resulting from the breach, such as injury to persons or property.

(Stipulated Jury Instructions App., Exh. 22 [# 130], filed May 27, 2011.)3 I perceived that this instruction inappropriately conflated the alternative damage theories of lost profits and reliance damages, both of which plaintiff had preserved (see Final Pretrial Order ¶ 1 at 3 [# 116], filed May 18, 2011), and, therefore, ordered the parties to resubmit the damages instructions.

Defendant resubmitted the original instruction, arguing that reliance damages were not available under District of Columbia law. (See Defendant’s Submission of Proposed Jury Instructions App., Exh. 1 [# 175], filed July 11, 2011.) I disagreed and submitted to the jury an instruction premised primarily on plaintiffs more recent proposal:

If you find that defendant breached an oral contract with plaintiff and find also that defendant’s breach was not excused, then you must award damages to plaintiff.
There are two alternative measures of damages for breach of contract: lost profits and reliance damages.
To calculate lost profits, you should determine the amount of money plaintiff would have received had the contract not been breached. Then subtract from that amount any money plaintiff saved because it did not have to complete the contract.
Alternatively, the measure of damages for breach of contract is plaintiffs reliance damages.

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853 F. Supp. 2d 1094, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17810, 2012 WL 468378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iowa-pacific-holdings-llc-v-national-railroad-passenger-corp-cod-2012.