TORCHWOOD PROPERTIES, LLC v. McKinnon

784 N.W.2d 416, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 101, 2010 WL 2733320
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 13, 2010
DocketA09-1993
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 784 N.W.2d 416 (TORCHWOOD PROPERTIES, LLC v. McKinnon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TORCHWOOD PROPERTIES, LLC v. McKinnon, 784 N.W.2d 416, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 101, 2010 WL 2733320 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

ROSS, Judge.

This appeal requires us to decide whether we can meaningfully review for prejudicial error a district court’s denial of a party’s midtrial motions for a continuance or a new trial after the party reacted to the denial by refusing to participate further in the trial. Trial counsel for a landowner suing its neighbor for negligent property maintenance discovered while cross-examining the neighbor that the neighbor had failed to produce handwritten notes requested during discovery. After the district court denied the plaintiff landowner’s motions for a continuance or for a new trial to secure the notes, that landowner reacted by refusing to participate further in the trial, lost at trial, and now appeals. Reviewing the district court’s challenged decision on appeal would require us to discern between the alleged prejudice from the decision and the apparent prejudice from the landowner’s withdrawal from trial participation. Because a party who intentionally and unreasonably prejudices itself at trial obscures any theoretical prejudice caused by the district court’s decision, that party is es-topped from challenging the district court’s decision for prejudicial error, and we affirm.

FACTS

This appeal arises from a dispute between two landowners after one allegedly allowed her property to fall into disrepair and require demolition, negatively affecting the value of the other property. Appellant Torchwood Properties, LLC, and respondent Judith McKinnon own adjoining property in Albert Lea. Their buildings shared a common wall until the south wall of McKinnon’s property collapsed and she authorized the city to raze the building. Torchwood sued McKinnon under multiple legal theories, seeking damages [418]*418resulting from the deterioration and destruction of her building.

The parties tried the case to the district court. McKinnon testified that she had written notes possibly related to her decision to authorize the city to raze her building. But she had not produced those notes during discovery. Torchwood immediately objected and moved for a continuance so that McKinnon could produce the notes. It also soon moved for a new trial. McKinnon, who arrived at court in a wheelchair and whom the district court described as fragile, urged that it would be impossible for her to quickly find the notes in her basement because her gas and electricity had been shut off and that, even with a few weeks’ effort and help, it would be “very hard” to find them among the “piles and piles of stuff.”

The district court agreed with Torch-wood that McKinnon should have produced the notes, but it declined to delay or stop the trial to direct McKinnon to seek them. It concluded that McKinnon was too unhealthy to undertake the search quickly and that no amount of time would likely result in her finding them. The district court also indicated that court scheduling conflicts would prevent a new trial for four to seven months. It denied Torchwood’s motion to continue and its later motion for a new trial.

Torchwood then rested its case. The district court found in McKinnon’s favor on all claims. It also described Torchwood’s abrupt decision to rest its case as reflecting Torchwood’s disappointment or its strategy:

It is possible that this evidence [supporting Torchwood’s claims] would have come out during the trial if Plaintiffs attorney had finished presenting evidence. After what he considered an unsatisfactory evidentiary ruling, however, counsel for Plaintiff chose not to participate in the trial by not submitting any further evidence, cross-examining any witnesses, making a closing statement or submitting a trial memo. It is this Court’s observation that this was counsel’s strategy after the evidentiary ruling....

During oral argument before this court, Torchwood’s counsel answered our inquiry as to whether Torchwood ended its trial participation in response to the district court’s adverse decision, “Sort of; not yes, not no.” After the decision, Torchwood formalized its motion for a new trial with a memorandum to the district court arguing that it was deprived of a fair trial because McKinnon intentionally withheld evidence. The district court denied the motion. Torchwood appeals.

ISSUE

Did the district court abuse its discretion by denying Torchwood’s motions for a continuance or a new trial?

ANALYSIS

Torchwood argues that the district court erroneously denied its motions for a continuance or for a new trial. We review district court rulings on continuance and new-trial motions for abuse of discretion. Dunshee v. Douglas, 255 N.W.2d 42, 45 (Minn.1977); Border State Bank of Greenbush v. Bagley Livestock Exch., Inc., 690 N.W.2d 326, 334 (Minn.App.2004), review denied (Minn. Feb. 23, 2005). Torchwood cannot show abuse of discretion.

Torchwood argues that McKin-non’s alleged intentional withholding of evidence merited a new trial under Minnesota Rule of Civil Procedure 59.01(a), (b), (c), or (d). Rule 59.01 provides grounds for a successful new-trial motion, including

(a) Irregularity in the proceedings of the court, referee, jury, or prevailing [419]*419party, or any order or abuse of discretion, whereby the moving party was deprived of a fair trial;
(b) Misconduct of the jury or prevailing party;
(c) Accident or surprise which could not have been prevented by ordinary prudence; [or]
(d) Material evidence newly discovered, which with reasonable diligence could not have been found and produced at the trial[.]

It is not enough that Torchwood’s motion established the existence of one of these bases. Torchwood also had to establish to the district court that it was actually prejudiced by McKinnon’s alleged misconduct, and, on appeal, it must establish that it was prejudiced by the district court’s adverse ruling. This is because prejudice is “[t]he primary consideration in determining whether to grant a new trial,” Wild v. Rarig, 302 Minn. 419, 433, 234 N.W.2d 775, 786 (1975), and because “[t]he refusal to grant a new trial will be reversed only if misconduct is so prejudicial that it would be unjust to allow the result to stand,” Vangsness v. Vangsness, 607 N.W.2d 468, 472 (Minn.App.2000) (quotation omitted). Similarly, when we evaluate the denial of a continuance motion, the critical question is again whether the denial prejudiced the outcome of the trial. Jones v. Jones, 402 N.W.2d 146, 149-50 (Minn.App.1987). Torchwood’s decision to abandon the trial voluntarily when it lost its motions inflicted prejudice on itself. So even if we assume that the district court should have delayed the proceeding by granting either of the motions, Torchwood’s self-inflicted prejudice prevents us from weighing whether the district court’s rulings prejudiced the outcome of the trial.

An error is prejudicial if it “might reasonably have changed the result.” Behlke v. Conwed Corp.,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

David Kaslow Swan v. Heidi Bloedel Moon
Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2023
In re: Guardianship of Jill Lee Osufsen
Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2023
Larson v. Gannett Co.
915 N.W.2d 485 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2018)
TORCHWOOD PROPERTIES, LLC v. McKinnon
784 N.W.2d 416 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
784 N.W.2d 416, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 101, 2010 WL 2733320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torchwood-properties-llc-v-mckinnon-minnctapp-2010.