Vaughn v. King

975 F. Supp. 1147, 1997 WL 542302
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedAugust 20, 1997
DocketNo. 2:96-CV-84-RL
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 975 F. Supp. 1147 (Vaughn v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vaughn v. King, 975 F. Supp. 1147, 1997 WL 542302 (N.D. Ind. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

LOZANO, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment As a Matter of Law Notwithstanding the Jury’s Verdict Or in the Alternative Motion for New Trial on Damages filed on July 7,1997, and Motion to Reconsider filed by Plaintiffs on August 8, 1997. The Plaintiffs also filed a Supplemental Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion for Judgment As a Matter of Law on July 11, 1997. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment As a Matter of Law Notwithstanding the Jury’s Verdict Or in the Alternative Motion for New Trial on Damages is DENIED. The Motion to Reconsider is DENIED as MOOT. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs had several contracts with Defendant, Gary Sanitary District (“GSD”), for the collection of GSD delinquent accounts. The contracts provided in part for attorney fees of 25% of the amounts collected. After Defendant, Scott King, became the new mayor of Gary, GSD terminated the collection contracts with the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs sued for attorney fees due under those contracts. The complaint originally asked for $377,425 in attorney fees under the contracts. By the time of trial, the Plaintiffs were demanding over $1,000,000 in fees.

In its order of April 2, 1997, the Court denied both Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ motions for summary judgment on the breach of contract claim. In the order the Court held that the contracts were valid despite the fact that the mayor of Gary had not signed the contracts. The Court also found there were genuine issues of fact regarding whether the amounts the Plaintiffs claimed they had collected had in fact been collected, and whether they had been collected through the Plaintiffs’ efforts.

At trial, the Plaintiffs presented evidence of the amounts collected through their efforts. The Plaintiffs also argued that the collection contracts were never actually terminated and that therefore the contracts continued to rule the relationship between the parties.

In opposition, the Defendants argued that the contracts were invalid because of undue influence. The Defendants also claimed that the amounts were not collected by the Plaintiffs’ efforts, that the Plaintiffs did not perform their part of the contract, and that the Plaintiffs were entitled only to hourly pay when they did not endeavor to collect the attorney fees directly from the delinquent users.

The jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiffs in the amount of $181,956.98. Because it was undisputed that the Plaintiffs had done at least some work for the Defendants, even a jury that believed the evidence and the arguments presented by the Defendants [1150]*1150would have had to make some award to the Plaintiffs.

DISCUSSION

The Plaintiffs move for judgment as a matter of law or in the alternative for a new trial because the jury verdict was allegedly inadequate and against a great weight of the evidence. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b) the Court may grant judgment as a matter of law after a trial when there was not legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find as it did in the case. When considering a motion under Rule 50(b) the Court should consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Pope v. Shafer, 86 F.3d 90 (7th Cir.1996); McNabola v. Chicago Transit Authority, 10 F.3d 501, 515 (7th Cir.1993). The Court should deny the motion if the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Defendants in this case, supports the verdict. McNabola, 10 F.3d at 515. When deciding a motion for a new trial under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, the Court should consider whether the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, the damages excessive, or if for some other reason the trial was not fair to the moving party. Id. at 516.

The Court notes, before considering the Plaintiffs’ arguments, that the jury had several alternatives in deciding a verdict in this case. First, the jury could decide if the contracts were invalid because of undue influence. If so, the Plaintiffs could not recover under the contracts and were entitled only to the reasonable value of their services. If the jury found that the contracts were valid, the jury then had to decide whether the Plaintiffs had performed their part of the contracts. If they had not, then again the Plaintiffs were only entitled to the reasonable value of their services. If the jury found that the Plaintiffs had performed their part of the contracts, the jury had to determine whether the contracts called for fees of 25% of all amounts collected through the Plaintiffs’ efforts, or only 25% of the amounts collected where the Plaintiffs endeavored to collect the attorney fees directly from the users. Finally, the jury had to determine if and when GSD terminated its contracts with the Plaintiffs because the Plaintiffs could recover under the contracts only for collections accomplished during the contractual relationship. For those completed afterwards, the Plaintiffs were only entitled to the reasonable value of their services.

Because the parties agreed to a general verdict form, it is impossible to tell how the jury decided this case. If there is enough evidence to support a jury verdict on any one of these possible grounds, the Court will not grant the motion.

Plaintiffs advance several grounds in support of their Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law. The Plaintiffs first argue that the evidence presented at trial shows that the collection contracts had not been terminated and were still ongoing at the time of trial. The Court disagrees. There was sufficient for the jury to find otherwise.

The Plaintiffs next argue that the undisputed evidence showed that certain named collections occurred because of then-efforts. Even assuming such evidence was undisputed, the jury could have decided as it did based on other evidence and theories of the case. The jury could have found that the Plaintiffs could not recover under the contracts because the contracts were obtained under undue influence.1 Even if the jury found that the contracts were valid and that the collections occurred because of the efforts of the Plaintiffs, the jury could have found that the Plaintiffs had not endeavored to collect attorney fees from the users and were entitled only to payment for the hours expended. Considering the different theories of the case presented to the jury, the evidence as viewed in the light most favorable to the Defendants was sufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict.

[1151]*1151Throughout the motion, the Plaintiffs argue that because the contracts provided that the Plaintiffs were entitled to recover 25% of the amounts collected once they commenced collection efforts on that account, the fact that the collections occurred not because of the Plaintiffs’ efforts, or that the collections occurred after the contracts were terminated, would not preclude them from recovering the 25% in fees. That might be permissible if the contracts were not contracts for legal services, but there are legal rules that limit the ability of a lawyer and her client to contract freely.

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Bluebook (online)
975 F. Supp. 1147, 1997 WL 542302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vaughn-v-king-innd-1997.