Isom v. JDA Software Inc.

225 F. Supp. 3d 880, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188498, 2016 WL 8115691
District Court, D. Arizona·Decided December 21, 2016·No. No. CV-12-02649-PHX-JAT·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT JDA SOFTWARE’S MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL AND/OR TO AMEND THE JUDGMENT AND MOTION FOR RENEWED JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW

James A. Teilborg, Senior United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Motion for New Trial and/or to Amend the Judgment and Motion for Renewed Judgment as a Matter of Law. (Doc. 183) Plaintiff filed a response to the motion (Doc. 188) and Defendant filed a reply (Doc. 194). Also pending before the Court is Plaintiff Kimberly Isom’s Motion for Attorney Fees (Doc. 184),- Defendant JDA Software filed a Response in Opposition (Doc. 191), and Plaintiff filed a reply (Doc. 195). The Court now rules on the motions.

I. Background1

Plaintiff Kimberly Isom sued her former employer, Defendant JDA Software Incorporated (“JDA”), alleging JDA interfered with her right to take maternity leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”),, 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a), At all times relevant to this suit, Plaintiff was employed by JDA as a sales account manager. In December 2010, Plaintiff informed JDA of her pregnancy and began asking Human Resources representatives about the possibility of taking maternity leave under the FMLA. Plaintiff specifically expressed her concerns that taking leave would allow her , sales management team to remove certain accounts from her sales pipeline, thereby nullifying her “hard work over the last [two] years.” In addition to speaking with human resources, Plaintiff also informed her immediate supervisor of her pregnancy and made him aware of her concerns regarding commissions and account retention.

For the next six months, Plaintiff continued her attempts to determine whether taking leave was in her financial and professional interest. Between January and March 2011, Plaintiff lodged multiple inquiries with human resources in an effort to determine whether her accounts could be reassigned to her detriment if she were to take FMLA leave. Despite her repeated [884] inquiries, JDA did not provide Plaintiff with answers to her questions or concerns. Eventually, Plaintiff contacted JDA’s in-house counsel, but counsel was similarly unable to provide Plaintiff with meaningful guidance.

Plaintiff ultimately decided to take the allowed twelve weeks of leave under the FMLA after she gave birth to twins in June 2011. During her leave, JDA reassigned one of Plaintiffs sales accounts (the “Sears Canada” account) to another salesperson,2 Plaintiff requested that JDA revisit the account’s reassignment after she returned from work in August 2011, but JDA explained that it would not do so in accordance with “company policy.” Plaintiff received no commission when the Sears Canada sale closed in March 2012.

Plaintiff filed suit against JDA, alleging that its reassignment of accounts interfered with her statutory rights to be returned to the same or an equivalent position upon her return from leave. See 29 U.S.C. § 2614(a)(1)(A). After a trial, the jury ruled in Plaintiffs favor and awarded her $114,618 in compensatory damages for lost commission associated with the Sears Canada account. This Court then awarded Plaintiff liquidated damages in the same amount pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(l)(A)(iii), finding JDA did not act in good faith.3 (Doc. 175). JDA then filed a combined motion for new trial or to amend the judgment and renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law. (Doc. 183).

II. Motion for New Trial and Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

JDA argues it is entitled to relief from the judgment or, in the alternative, to a new trial. (Doc. 183 at 9). JDA contends the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support a claim under the FMLA, and the jury’s verdict reflects a fundamental misapplication of the law. (Id.)

A. Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 50 allows the Court to enter judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) on an issue if it finds “that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient eviden-tiary basis to find for the [nonmoving] party.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(a)(1). JMOL is proper “if the evidence, construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, permits only one reasonable conclusion and that conclusion is contrary to the jury’s verdict.” Pavao v. Pagay, 307 F.3d 915, 918 (9th Cir. 2002). Even if findings contrary to the jury’s verdict are possible based on the evidence, the Court must uphold a verdict if “substantial evidence adequate to support” the jury’s conclusion exists in the record. Escriba v. Foster Poultry Farms, Inc., 743 F.3d 1236, 1242 (9th Cir. 2014). When ruling on a motion for JMOL, this Court does not weigh evidence or make determinations of credibility, but construes all inferences from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

A motion for new trial under Rule 59(a) may be granted “after a jury trial, for any reasons for which a new trial has heretofore been granted” in federal court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a). Reasons for [885] granting a new trial may include a verdict that is contrary to the weight of the evidence or a trial that was manifestly unjust to the nonmoving party. Molski v. M.J. Cable, Inc., 481 F.3d 724, 729 (9th Cir. 2007). Unlike with a Rule 50 motion, the Court may make determinations as to the weight of the evidence and credibility of witnesses when determining whether a new trial is warranted. See Kode v. Carlson, 596 F.3d 608, 612 (9th Cir. 2010).

B. Analysis

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Isom v. JDA Software Inc., 225 F. Supp. 3d 880, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188498, 2016 WL 8115691 (D. Ariz. 2016).

225 F. Supp. 3d 880 (Isom v. JDA Software Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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