Abbey Adams Logo

Defending Liability, Workers' Compensation, Employment Claims and Appeals Since 1982

  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • Home
  • Locations
    • Where We Practice in Florida
    • Where We Practice In Illinois
  • Practices
  • Attorneys
    • David J. Abbey
    • Jeffrey M. Adams
    • Bruce D. Burk
    • Robert P. Byelick
    • Jaime Eagan
    • Jennifer J. Kennedy
    • John D. Kiernan (1947-2016)
    • V. Joseph Mueller
    • Steven A. Ochsner
    • Alexis C. Upton
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Contact Us

January 21, 2021 by Jennifer Kennedy

Torts — Negligence — New trial — Trial court erred in granting a new trial without finding that jury’s verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence as to causation — Remand for reinstatement of jury’s verdict where trial court had previously been given opportunity by appellate court to make the necessary finding but did not do so

46 Fla. L. Weekly D194a

FRED MEYERS and NINIBETH MEYERS, Appellants, v. BONNEVA SHONTZ, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D19-1294. Opinion filed January 20, 2021. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County; Pamela A.M. Campbell, Judge. Counsel: Elizabeth C. Wheeler of Elizabeth C. Wheeler, P.A., Orlando, for Appellants. Robert W. Hitchens of Hitchens & Hitchens, P.A., St. Petersburg, for Appellee.

(KELLY, Judge.) Once again, this case comes to us on appeal from the trial court’s order granting Bonneva Shontz’s motion for a new trial. In Meyers v. Shontz, 251 So. 3d 992 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018) (Meyers I), we reversed because the trial court applied an incorrect legal standard when evaluating Ms. Shontz’s motion. Id. at 1000. We remanded with instructions for the trial court to reconsider the motion. Id. at 1005. On remand, the trial court entered an order that did not satisfy the requirements of rule 1.530(f) of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure,1 and as required by the rule, we relinquished jurisdiction for the trial court to enter an order specifying its reasons for granting a new trial. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.530(f); Prime Motor Inns, Inc. v. Waltman, 480 So. 2d 88, 89 (Fla. 1985). We are now able to review the new trial order, and once again, we reverse.

In Meyers I, the trial court granted a new trial without finding that the jury’s verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence as to causation.2 Meyers I, 251 So. 3d at 999. We addressed this issue in Meyers I:

The second facet of the trial court’s order that shows that it failed to apply the correct legal standard to Ms. Shontz’s motion for new trial is that the order explicitly says that the trial court did not consider the issue of causation. The special interrogatory upon which the jury decided the case asked both whether Ms. Meyers was negligent and whether any negligence by Ms. Meyers was a legal cause of loss to Ms. Shontz. As a matter of logic, then, the jury was entitled to decide the case in the Meyerses’ favor on the basis of negligence, causation, or both. No one knows how the jury sliced the onion on these two issues because both were lumped into a single question. What that means here is that the legal standard governing Ms. Shontz’s new trial motion — which mandates consideration of whether the verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence — required the trial court to consider not only the evidence on the issue of negligence, but also the evidence on the issue of causation. See, e.g., Hernandez v. Gonzalez, 124 So. 3d 988, 990 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (affirming order denying new trial where negligence was conceded and causation was disputed but where the jury answered a special interrogatory incorporating both issues in the negative). By deciding that it did not need to consider causation at all, the trial court again applied the wrong legal standard to Ms. Shontz’s motion for a new trial.

251 So. 3d at 1002. Despite our guidance, the trial court again expressly declined to address the issue of causation. As we explained in Meyers I, absent a finding that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence as to causation, the trial court could not properly grant a new trial. The trial court had the opportunity to make that finding, and it did not. Accordingly, we reverse the order granting a new trial and remand for reinstatement of the jury’s verdict. See Van v. Schmidt, 122 So. 3d 243, 260-61 (Fla. 2013) (“[I]f the only way that the trial court could have reached the result of granting a new trial was based on the legal error, then the appellate court could properly reverse the trial court’s order and remand for reinstatement of the jury’s verdict.”).

Reversed and remanded with directions. (MORRIS, J., Concurs. ATKINSON, J., Concurs in result only.)

__________________

1Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530(f) states, “All orders granting a new trial shall specify the specific grounds therefor. If such an order is appealed and does not state the specific grounds, the appellate court shall relinquish its jurisdiction to the trial court for entry of an order specifying the grounds for granting the new trial.”

2It also failed to consider the totality of the evidence in determining whether the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence as to Ms. Meyers’ negligence. Id. at 1004-05. We instructed the court to reconsider this aspect of its order as well. Because our conclusion that the court’s failure to find the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence regarding causation is dispositive, we do not reach the issue of whether it properly exercised its discretion regarding the issue of negligence.* * *

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

Blog Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013

Footer

The materials available at this website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Use of and access to this Website or any of the e-mail links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship between Abbey, Adams, Byelick & Mueller, L.L.P. and the user or browser. The opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of the firm or any individual attorney. opens in a new windowAbbey, Adams, Byelick, & Mueller XML Sitemap Index

Copyright © 2021 · Abbey Adams Byelick & Mueller, LLP · All Rights Reserved · Defending Liability, Workers' Compensation, Employment Claims and Appeals Since 1982