Ring Power Corp. v. Rosier

67 So. 3d 1115, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 11166, 2011 WL 2752841
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 18, 2011
DocketNo. 1D10-5083
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 67 So. 3d 1115 (Ring Power Corp. v. Rosier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ring Power Corp. v. Rosier, 67 So. 3d 1115, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 11166, 2011 WL 2752841 (Fla. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

WETHERELL, J.

We deny Appellee’s motions for rehearing and rehearing en banc. On our own motion, we withdraw the opinion issued on June 8, 2011, and substitute this opinion in its place.

Ring Power Corporation (Ring Power) seeks review of an order granting a new [1117]*1117trial in this negligence action. In the order, the trial court found that a new trial was warranted because the verdict in favor of Ring Power was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence and because of improper closing argument by defense counsel. Ring Power contends that the trial court abused its discretion in granting a new trial. We agree and reverse.

Appellee, Melvin Rosier, sued Ring Power and others for negligence based upon the failure of the parking brake on a Caterpillar backhoe loader at the Wakulla County landfill. When the brake failed, the loader rolled forward and pinned Rosier against a brick wall. Rosier eventually had both legs amputated as a result of the accident. Rosier settled with Caterpillar and voluntarily dismissed Wakulla County, and the case proceeded to trial only against Ring Power. Rosier claimed that Ring Power had a duty to reasonably inspect and maintain the loader and its brake system pursuant to the Customer Service Agreement (CSA) between Ring Power and Wakulla County and that the accident was caused by Ring Power’s breach of this duty.

Following a four-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Ring Power. Rosier timely moved for a new trial, arguing that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence and that, contrary to a ruling of the trial court, Ring Power improperly argued in closing arguments that it had no liability based on exculpatory language in the CSA. The trial court granted the motion. This appeal follows.

The trial court has discretion to grant a new trial even if it is not clear, obvious, and indisputable that the jury was wrong. See Brown v. Estate of Stuckey, 749 So.2d 490, 497 (Fla.1999). But the trial court should “refrain from acting as an additional juror” and “should only intervene when the manifest weight of the evidence dictates such action.” Smith v. Brown, 525 So.2d 868, 870 (Fla.1988) (emphasis in original). The trial court’s ruling on á motion for new trial is reviewed for an abuse of discretion, as explained in Estate of Stuckey:

When reviewing the order granting a new trial, an appellate court must recognize the broad discretionary authority of the trial judge and apply the reasonableness test to determine whether the trial judge committed an abuse of discretion. If an appellate court determines that reasonable persons could differ as to the propriety of the action taken by the trial court, there can be no finding of an abuse of discretion. The fact that there may be substantial, competent evidence in the record to support the jury verdict does not necessarily demonstrate that the trial judge abused his or her discretion.

749 So.2d at 497-98.

Where, as here, the trial court grants a new trial on the basis that the verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, the issue for the appellate court is not whether there was evidence to support the verdict; rather, the issue is whether there is record support for the trial court’s finding that the verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. Id.; see also E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc. v. Farnes, 697 So.2d 825, 827-28 (Fla.1997) (quashing appellate decision reversing order granting new trial because “although there was an evidentia-ry basis for the jury verdict, there also was extensive evidentiary support for the trial court’s ruling”). The trial court is required to articulate its reasons for granting a new trial in the order. See Wackenhut Corp. v. Canty, 359 So.2d 430, 435 (Fla.1978) (“Orders granting motions for new trials should articulate reasons for so [1118]*1118doing so that appellate courts may be able to fulfill their duty of review by determining whether judicial discretion has been abused.”). The trial court abuses its discretion in granting a new trial where there is no record support for the reasons stated in its order. See, e.g., Schmidt v. Van, 2011 WL 2570774 (Fla. 1st DCA June 30, 2011) (reversing grant of new trial because, even though defense verdict was contrary to uncontradicted testimony of the plaintiffs expert, the jury was free to weigh and reject the expert’s testimony); Jordan v. Brown, 855 So.2d 231, 233-34 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003) (reversing grant of new trial where issue of plaintiffs injury was highly controverted and, thus, the trial court’s finding that there was uncontro-verted evidence that plaintiff was injured was not supported by the record); K-Mart Corp. v. Collins, 707 So.2d 753, 755-56 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (reversing grant of new trial where findings in the order did not reveal the conflicting nature of the evidence presented at trial, but rather reflected that the trial judge was impermissi-bly acting as a seventh juror by merely disagreeing with the jury’s determination of what weight to accord the evidence).

Here, the order granting a new trial focused on the “unrebutted” testimony of Rosier’s expert that Ring Power did not competently inspect the loader in accordance with industry standards because the inspector was unable to say how long the brake system would work after the inspection. The record does not support the trial court’s finding that the expert’s testimony on this issue was unrebutted;

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 So. 3d 1115, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 11166, 2011 WL 2752841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ring-power-corp-v-rosier-fladistctapp-2011.