Botey v. Green

JONATHAN BOTEY, Plaintiff v. ROBERT GREEN, et al., Defendants

3:12-CV-1520

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

November 14, 2018

(JUDGE MARIANI)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury trial was held in the above-captioned case in June of 2017. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Defendants Robert Green and FFE Transportation Services ("FFE")¹ and against Plaintiff Jonathan Botey.

Now before the Court is "Plaintiff's Motion for New Trial Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59" (Doc. 340). For the reasons set forth below, the Court will deny the plaintiff's motion in its entirety.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Because the factual background of this case is thoroughly familiar to all parties and has been discussed at length by the Court before (see e.g., generally, Mem. Op. Granting in Part and Denying in Part Mot. for Sanctions, Doc. 123; R&R, Doc. 125), a detaileddiscussion of the facts of the case is unnecessary here. Briefly, for purposes relevant to the present motion, on August 6, 2012, this action was removed from the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County. Plaintiff Jonathan Botey's Amended Complaint alleged Negligence against Robert Green, Conwell Corporation, and FFE Transportation Services, Inc. (Counts I, II, III), and further requested punitive damages against each of the Defendants (Counts IV, V, VI) as the result of an accident which occurred on May 10, 2011, between Botey and Green, a trucker operating a tractor-trailer owned by Conwell Corporation and registered to FFE Transportation Services, Inc., on State Route 924 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. (Doc. 1).

On March 11, 2015, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Sanctions (Doc. 74) in response to alleged spoliation of evidence by Defendants Conwell Corporation and FFE. Although the Court denied Plaintiff's request that an adverse inference jury instruction be read against Defendants at the time of trial, the Court granted Plaintiff's request that Defendants be precluded from arguing in any dispositive motions that the plaintiff lacked evidence to prove his corporate negligence claims against Defendants FFE and Conwell based on the documents destroyed in so far as Defendants were precluded from proving the contents of the destroyed documents by other means or arguing their contents in dispositive motions or at trial. (Docs. 123, 124).

On September 9, 2015, Defendants filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment requesting that the Court dismiss the punitive damage claims against Green, FFE, andConwell, as well as Plaintiff's claims for negligent qualification, hiring, supervision, monitoring, training, and entrustment against FFE and Conwell contained in Counts II and III. (Doc. 103). The Motion was referred to Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson who recommended denying Defendants' Motion (Doc. 125). Upon de novo review, the Court adopted the R&R. (Docs. 130, 131).

A jury trial was held from June 12, 2017 through June 21, 2017. After deliberation, the jury found in favor of Defendants. Specifically, in response to Question 1, "Do you find by a preponderance of the evidence that Robert Green was negligent?", the jury responded "No." (Doc. 334, at 2). As a result, the jury did not answer any further special verdict questions and jury deliberations were concluded.

The Court entered judgment on June 22, 2017 (Doc. 335) and Plaintiff timely filed the instant Rule 59 motion pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Doc. 340).

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A losing party may move for a new trial or to alter or amend a judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59.

"The court may, on motion, grant a new trial on all or some of the issues - and to any party . . . after a jury trial, for any reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court . . . ." Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a)(1)(A). The Court may grant a new trial "purely on a question of law;" or to correct a previous ruling "on a matter that initially rested within the discretion of the court, e.g. evidentiary rulings or prejudicialstatements made by counsel" or "because [the Court] believes the jury's decision is against the weight of the evidence", among other grounds. Klein v. Hollings, 992 F.2d 1285, 1289-1290 (3d Cir. 1993) (internal citations omitted). While the Court has wide discretion to order a new trial to correct rulings that initially rested in its discretion, it has relatively narrow discretion to overturn a verdict on the grounds that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. Id. This is because

where no undesirable or pernicious element has occurred or been introduced into the trial and the trial judge nonetheless grants a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, the trial judge in negating the jury's verdict has, to some extent at least, substituted his judgment of the facts and the credibility of the witnesses for that of the jury. Such an action effects a denigration of the jury system and to the extent that new trials are granted the judge takes over, if he does not usurp, the prime function of the jury as the trier of the facts.

Lind v. Schenley Indus., Inc., 278 F.2d 79, 90 (3d Cir. 1960).

Accordingly, the district court ought to grant a new trial on the basis that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence only where a miscarriage of justice would result if the verdict were to stand. Where the subject matter of the litigation is simple and within a layman's understanding, the district court is given less freedom to scrutinize the jury's verdict than in a case that deals with complex factual determinations . . . .

Williamson v. Consol. Rail Corp., 926 F.2d 1344, 1352 (3d Cir. 1991) (internal citations omitted).

The Court may also alter or amend a judgment pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e), otherwise known as a motion for reconsideration. See Keifer v. Reinhart Foodservices, LLC., 563 F.App'x 112, 114 (3d Cir. 2014). A motion to alter or amend "must rely on one of threemajor grounds: (1) an intervening change in controlling law; (2) the availability of new evidence not available previously; or (3) the need to correct clear error of law or prevent manifest injustice." North River Ins. Co. v. CIGNA Reinsurance Co., 52 F.3d 1194, 1218 (3d Cir. 1995) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted); see also, Max's Seafood Cafe ex rel. Lou-Ann, Inc. v. Quinteros, 176 F.3d 669, 677 (3d Cir. 1999). Thus, when a jury errs as a matter of law, a Court may rectify this error through a Rule 59(e) motion. Keifer, 563 F.App'x. at 115; see also, United States v. Fiorelli, 337 F.3d 282, 288 (3d Cir. 2003) ("A motion under Rule 59(e) is a 'device to relitigate the original issue' decided by the district court, and used to allege legal error") (quoting Smith v. Evans, 853 F.2d 155, 158-159 (3d Cir. 1988)). However, "motions for reconsideration should not be used to put forward arguments which the movant . . . could have made but neglected to make before judgment." United States v. Jasin, 292 F.Supp.2d 670, 677 (E.D. Pa. 2003) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted) (quoting Reich v. Compton, 834 F.Supp.2d 753, 755 (E.D. Pa. 1993) rev'd in part and aff'd in part on other grounds, 57 F.3d 270 (3d Cir. 1995)). Nor should they "be used as a means to reargue matters already argued and disposed of or as an attempt to relitigate a point of disagreement between the Court and the litigant." Donegan v. Livingston, 877 F.Supp.2d 212, 226 (M.D. Pa. 2012) (quoting Ogden v. Keystone Residence, 226 F.Supp.2d 588, 606 (M.D. Pa. 2002)). Because federal courts have a strong interest in the finality of judgments, motions for reconsideration should only be granted sparingly. Cont'l Cas. Co. v.Diversified Indus., Inc., 884 F.Supp. 937, 943 (E.D. Pa. 1995) (citing Rottmund v. Cont'l Assurance Co., 813 F.Supp. 1104, 1107 (E.D. Pa. 1992)).²

IV. ANALYSIS

Plaintiff's motion is divided into seven sections, each attempting to provide a separate basis for the grant of a new trial. (See generally, Doc. 360). The Court will address these arguments in turn.

A. The Jury's Verdict

Plaintiff first asserts that a new trial should be granted because the verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

"A Rule 59(a)(1) motion seeking a new trial on the ground that the judgment is against the weight of the evidence is warranted only when the verdict is so against the evidence as to constitute a miscarriage of justice." 1 Moore's Federal Rules Pamphlet § 59.3[3] (Matthew Bender)(2016). Therefore, although a new trial may be granted even if the evidence is legally sufficient to support the verdict, "a district court should grant a new trial on the basis that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence only where a miscarriage of justice would result if the verdict were to stand." Sheridan v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., 100 F.3d 1061, 1076 (3d Cir. 1996) (quoting Roebuck v. Drexel Univ., 852 F.2d 715, 735-36 (3d Cir. 1988); Williamson, 926 F.2d at 1352); see also,Williamson, 926 F.2d at 1353 ("[N]ew trials because the verdict is against the weight of the evidence are proper only when the record shows that the jury's verdict resulted in a miscarriage of justice or where the verdict, on the record, cries out to be overturned or shocks our conscience."). The Third Circuit has characterized this as a "stringent standard" necessary "to ensure that a district court does not substitute its judgment of the facts and the credibility of the witnesses for that of the jury." Sheridan, 100 F.3d at 1076 (internal quotation marks omitted).³

Plaintiff argues that that the jury's verdict finding that Green was not negligent "is clearly against the weight of the evidence such that a miscarriage of justice would result of the verdict were to stand." (Doc. 360, at 2). In support of his argument, Plaintiff claims that "it is undisputed that Defendant Green...