328 F. Supp. 147 | W.D. Pa. | 1971
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL
The wife-plaintiff, Mrs. Mary Balaska, slipped upon liquid detergent in the aisle of defendant’s store. Shortly before the fall of the wife-plaintiff, another fall had occurred in the same place and defendant had attempted to clean the aisle. The defense offered no testimony and presented no evidence at all to contradict plaintiff’s liability witnesses,
While this court is most reluctant to disturb a jury verdict, the verdict in the instant case is so completely against the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to make this an appropriate case for the granting of a new trial. A motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence is addressed primarily to the sound discretion of the trial judge. Livergood v. S. J. Groves & Sons Co., 361 F.2d 269 (3d Cir. 1966); Dessi v. Penna. R. Co., 150 F.Supp. 703 (D.C.Pa. 1957) aff’d 251 F.2d 149 (3 Cir.), cert. den. 356 U.S. 967, 78 S.Ct. 1006, 2 L.Ed.2d 1073.
In this case, this court has both the power
The evidence in this case shows that prior to plaintiff’s fall, the defendant had actual notice of the slippery condition of the aisleway by the first fall of Mrs. Baker. It thereupon became defendant’s duty to clean the floor effectively or to warn others. Cardone v. Sheldon Hotel Corp., 160 Pa.Super. 193, 50 A.2d 700 (1947); Gripp v. Lit. Bros., 181 Pa.Super. 444, 124 A.2d 378 (1956). Furthermore, the evidence shows that defendant took no precautions by blocking off the slippery aisle or giving any warning of the condition to other customers in the store.
In a case in which the verdict is overwhelmingly against the weight of the evidence, it is for the trial judge “to see that right and justice are done in the case before him, setting aside the verdict and granting a new trial if in the exercise of a sound discretion he thinks such action necessary to prevent an unjust result.” Magee v. General Motors Corp., 213 F.2d 899 (3d Cir. 1954). This case is not one in which substantial disputed questions of fact exist and thus one in which the Seventh Amendment compels adherence to a jury’s decision.
In the 18th century, Lord Mansfield stated with respect to the exercise of judicial power to grant new trial that “trials by jury, in civil causes, could not now subsist without a power, somewhere, to grant new trials”. Brighton v. Eynon (K.B. 1757) 1 Burr 390, 97 Eng. 365. To this observation, Justice Denison added “that it would be difficult perhaps to fix an absolutely general rule about granting new trials; without making so many exceptions to it, as might rather tend to darken the matter, than to explain it: but the granting a new trial, or refusing it, must depend upon the Legal Discretion of the Court; guided by the nature and circumstances
. Fed.Rule of Civ.Procedure 59(a) (1).
. P. 18 of transcript of trial.
. Pp. 20-29 of transcript of trial.