Lidle v. Cirrus Design Corp.

278 F.R.D. 325, 2011 WL 5346086, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128519
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 7, 2011
DocketNo. 08 Cv. 1253 (BSJ)(HBP)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 278 F.R.D. 325 (Lidle v. Cirrus Design Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lidle v. Cirrus Design Corp., 278 F.R.D. 325, 2011 WL 5346086, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128519 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

[327]*327 Opinion and Order

BARBARA S. JONES, District Judge.

Plaintiffs in the above-captioned case (“Plaintiffs”) brought wrongful death claims against Cirrus Design Corporation (“Defendant”), arising from an aircraft accident that occurred in New York on October 11, 2006. On May 24, 2011, after a five-week trial, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Defendant Cirrus Design Corporation. Final Judgment in the above-captioned matter was entered on June 6, 2011.

Plaintiffs now move for a new trial pursuant to Rule 59(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs advance four arguments in support of their Rule 59 motion. First, Plaintiffs maintain that the Court improperly refused to admit evidence of the “Doremire Incident.” (Def.’s Mem. 3). Second, Plaintiffs assert that the Court erred in allowing Patrick Waddick to testify to “expert issues” and by restricting Plaintiffs’ cross-examination of Waddick. {See Id. 17). Third, Plaintiffs allege that the Court improperly excluded exhibits referenced in the de bene esse deposition of Arthur Hughes. {See Id. 28). Finally, Plaintiffs assert that the Court failed to properly instruct the jury on negligence and the use of industry standards. {See Id. 35). None of these contentions has merit. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

The instant litigation concerns a wrongful death action arising out of the deaths of Corey Lidie and Tyler Stanger on October 11, 2006, when a single engine Cirrus SR20 piloted by Lidie and Stanger crashed into an apartment building on East 72nd Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. On February 22, 2007, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint in Superior Court in California.1 Defendant removed the above-captioned case to the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The case was subsequently transferred to the Southern District of New York on February 7, 2008. After significant discovery, extensive motion practice, and a five-week jury trial, a jury found in favor of Defendant Cirrus Design Corporation on all counts.

LEGAL STANDARD

A district court may grant a new trial “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 in the courts of the United States.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a). The Second Circuit has interpreted this standard to permit the granting of a new trial when a district court concludes that the jury reached a “seriously erroneous result” or that the “verdict is a miscarriage of justice.” Manley v. AmBase Corp., 337 F.3d 237, 245 (2d Cir.2003). A new trial may be warranted if “substantial errors were made in admitting or excluding evidence, or in charging the jury, or if mis[328]*328conduct by counsel during the course of the trial causes unfair prejudice to the moving party.” In re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Sec. Litig., 765 F.Supp.2d 512, 573 (S.D.N.Y.2011). A Court may weigh the evidence for itself, and a motion for a new trial pursuant to Rule 59 may be granted “even when there is evidence to support the jury’s verdict.” AMW Materials Testing, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, 584 F.3d 436, 456 (2d Cir.2009) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

DISCUSSION

I. The Doremire Incident

Plaintiffs assert that the Court erred by granting Defendant’s motion in limine to exclude all evidence of the “Doremire Incident.” (Pl.’s Mem. at 3). Plaintiffs further contend that, as the trial progressed, facts were presented that made it clear that the Doremire incident was “virtually identical” to Lidle/Stanger incident and therefore should have been admitted. (Id.). As such, Plaintiffs contend that the Court’s initial ruling and failure to reconsider that ruling were in error and constitute a miscarriage of justice that merits a new trial.

By Order dated April 20, 2011, the Court granted Defendant’s Motion in limine to exclude all evidence of the “Doremire Incident.” This ruling was issued after full briefing of the issue, extensive argument at two hearings, and a thorough examination of the evidence relating to the Doremire Incident. In a phone conference held on April 20, 2011, the Court discussed the evidence submitted by Plaintiffs in support of their claim that evidence of the Doremire Incident should be admitted because it was substantially similar to the alleged defect in the instant action. The Court found that the Doremire Incident was not substantially similar to the case at bar, and, therefore, the evidence of the Doremire Incident must be precluded. The Court also determined that the evidence was inadmissible pursuant to Rule 403.

Plaintiffs do not contend that the Court applied the incorrect legal standard. Both parties agree that evidence of a prior accident may only be admitted if the proponent shows that the prior accident occurred under “substantially similar” conditions to the ease at bar. See Melini v. 71st Lexington Corp., No. 07 Cv. 701(JCF), 2009 WL 1905032, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 2, 2009). Whether the accident occurred under “substantially similar” conditions necessarily “depends upon the underlying theory of the case, and is defined by the particular defect at issue.” Guild v. Gen. Motors Corp., 53 F.Supp.2d 363, 367 (W.D.N.Y.1999) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Thus, Plaintiffs bore the burden of establishing that Doremire’s alleged flight control problem was the result of the same defect they posited caused the Lidle/Stanger accident.

Plaintiffs’ underlying theory of the case was that “the accident was caused by the rudder aileron interconnect Adel clamp crossing over and becoming locked on the aileron bungee clamp.” (Pl.’s Opp’n Suram. J. at 16). Specifically, Plaintiffs argued that “[t]he combination of moving the aileron cable forward and the RAI backwards (which is a cross control maneuver) created a situation where the Adel clamp on the RAI crossed over the rear aileron bungee clamp.” (Id. 17-18). Throughout trial, Plaintiffs argued that once a jam of the RAI occurred, this caused other parts of the system to bend, which then lead to a progressive failure of the flight control system in the Lidle/Stanger aircraft.

In opposition to Defendant’s Motion in limine to exclude evidence of the Doremire Incident, Plaintiffs submitted evidence indicating that, on March 27, 2006, Bridgette Doremire experienced a problem with her flight controls while conducting a training flight in a Cirrus SR20, tail number N64CD, with her student, Todd Olsen. The evidence presented to the Court included Doremire’s deposition testimony, Doremire’s NASA report composed shortly after the incident, a letter Doremire wrote to the NTSB on August 8, 2008, the deposition testimony of John Bell, Doremire’s mechanic who inspected N264CD, a letter from Bell to the NTSB dated April 11, 2006, and an undated photograph that purported to be the N264CD trim cartridge showing chatter marks.2

[329]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 F.R.D. 325, 2011 WL 5346086, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128519, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lidle-v-cirrus-design-corp-nysd-2011.