Tidewater Finance Co. v. Fiserv Solutions, Inc.

192 F.R.D. 516, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11431, 2000 WL 512762
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedApril 20, 2000
DocketCivil Action Nos. 2:99CV696, 2:99CV697
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 192 F.R.D. 516 (Tidewater Finance Co. v. Fiserv Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Tidewater Finance Co. v. Fiserv Solutions, Inc., 192 F.R.D. 516, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11431, 2000 WL 512762 (E.D. Va. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JACKSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs motion for a new trial pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, and on Plaintiffs motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50. For the reasons stated below, the Court DENIES Plaintiffs motion for a new trial and DENIES Plaintiffs motion for judgment as a matter of law.

[518]*518I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff Tidewater Finance Company (“Tidewater”) is a sub-prime finance company in the business of financing retail purchases, made primarily through furniture and automobile dealers, for people with poor credit. Defendant Fiserv Solutions, Inc. (“Fiserv”) is in the business of designing and selling information processing software systems. In September 1996, after several months of negotiation, the parties entered into a five-year contract (“Contract”)1 in which Defendant agreed to provide computer information processing software and services to Plaintiff.2 From the outset, the parties’ relationship was fraught with difficulty. Tidewater was dissatisfied with the quality of services provided by Fiserv. Fiserv, in turn, was unhappy with Tidewater for making what they perceived as unreasonable demands and for repeatedly changing their requirements. After several unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problems, Tidewater terminated the Contract in February of 1999, with three years remaining in the original Contract term. Plaintiff subsequently brought suit against Fiserv, alleging fraudulent inducement and breach of contract for failure to perform services as promised, and seeking a declaratory judgment finding that Fiserv had agreed to let Tidewater out of its contract without penalty. Fiserv counterclaimed for breach of contract and conversion, claiming that Tidewater had breached the Contract by terminating it prematurely and had unlawfully retained Fiserv’s software and materials.

A jury trial was conducted from January 20, 2000, through February 1, 2000. On January 28, 2000, at the close of Plaintiffs evidence and pursuant to Defendant’s motion, the Court granted judgment as a matter of law in favor of the Defendant on Plaintiffs fraudulent inducement claim and Defendant’s conversion counterclaim. On January 31, 2000, at the close of Defendant’s case, the Court heard motions for judgment as a matter of law from both parties and denied both parties’ motions in an oral ruling from the bench. The jury commenced its deliberations on February 1, 2000, and returned with its verdict later that day. The jury found in favor of the Defendant on all remaining counts and awarded Defendant $536,250.60. Plaintiff renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law and the Court denied the motion.

On February 10, 2000, Plaintiff filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Rule 50(b) and a motion pursuant to Rule 59 for a new trial. The matter has been fully briefed, and the Court held a hearing on April 4, 2000. The Court denied Plaintiffs motion for a new trial from the bench and reserved its right to supplement its oral ruling with a written opinion, which it does below. The Court took Plaintiffs motion for judgment as a matter of law under advisement, and now DENIES that motion.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Plaintiffs Motion for a New Trial

Plaintiff alleges that it is entitled to a new trial based on the alleged misconduct of one of the trial jurors at voir dire. According to Plaintiff, after the jury rendered its verdict in favor of Defendant Fiserv on all claims, Tidewater’s CEO, Nathan Benson, conducted an extensive review of Tidewater’s files. That review revealed that one of the trial jurors had applied for and been denied credit by Tidewater in October 1998. After conducting further research, Plaintiff found that the same juror and his wife had filed for bankruptcy in July 1999. Furthermore, the juror’s wife had apparently purchased furniture on credit through Home Furnishings, the credit arm of Haynes Furniture.3 Plain[519]*519tiff argues that the juror’s failure to reveal this information by neglecting to respond to several of the Court’s questions during voir dire constitutes juror misconduct entitling it to a new trial.

During voir dire, the Court asked the following questions:

• “Has any member of the panel ever had any business dealings with Tidewater Finance Company, Tidewater Credit Services, Tidewater Motor Credit, or L. Sandler & Sons, Inc.?”

• “Have you or any immediate member of your family — sister, brother, mother, father, spouse — had any dealings with these parties — with these companies?”

• “Has any member of this panel ever purchased furniture using financing through the furniture store rather than a bank or a credit card company?”

• “Has any member of the panel ever been involved in any type of litigation involving the nonpayment of a debt?”

The juror failed to respond affirmatively to any of these questions. However, the juror did respond affirmatively to the Court’s question regarding whether “any member of this panel [had] ever been contacted by a debt collector.” Furthermore, he never gave any indication, despite several questions by the Court, that he was biased against finance companies or that he was unable or unwilling to render a fair and impartial verdict.

Plaintiff Tidewater alleges that because it is a sub-prime finance company, it anticipated that part of Defendant’s trial strategy would be to characterize Tidewater as a company that preys on people with poor credit. For this reason, Plaintiff claims that it was essential for Tidewater to select jurors without a personal history that might suggest prejudice against finance companies. It alleges that the juror’s failure to reveal the information concerning his own credit history and his involvement in bankruptcy proceedings impaired Plaintiffs right to exercise intelligently its peremptory strikes or to challenge for cause. On this basis, Plaintiff claims that it is entitled to a new trial.

1. Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59 provides that “[a] new trial may be granted ... 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....” To obtain a new trial based on a juror’s failure to disclose information at voir dire, the party seeking a new trial

must first demonstrate that a juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire, and then further show that a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause. The motives for concealing information may vary, but only those reasons that affect a juror’s impartiality can truly be said to affect the fairness of a trial.

McDonough Power Equip. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 556, 104 S.Ct. 845, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984) (plurality opinion);

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192 F.R.D. 516, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11431, 2000 WL 512762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tidewater-finance-co-v-fiserv-solutions-inc-vaed-2000.