MORDECHAI MANGEL, APPELLANT,
v.
CITY NATIONAL BANK OF MIAMI, A NATIONAL BANKING ASSOCIATION, APPELLEE
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Mangel appeals a trial court order granting judgment on a directed verdict in favor of City National Bank and, alternatively, granting a new trial on Mangel's counterclaim for conversion. The court reversed the directed verdict as improper but affirmed the new trial order, finding no abuse of discretion.
The court reversed the directed verdict as improper because some evidence supported the jury's verdict on the counterclaim. However, the court affirmed the new trial order because the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in finding the verdict contrary to the manifest weight of evidence and based on misconceptions of evidence and law.
[1] A trial court is authorized to direct a verdict only in the absence of any evidence or reasonable inferences supportive of the position of the nonmoving party.
[2] An order granting a new trial is reviewed for an abuse of discretion, and the party attacking such an order bears a heavy burden to demonstrate error.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“It is only in the absence of any evidence or reasonable inferences supportive of the position of the nonmoving party that a trial court is authorized to direct a verdict.”
Establishes the strict standard for directed verdicts, supporting reversal of the directed verdict here
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCity National Bank sued Mangel for default on two promissory notes totaling $77,000, alleging fraud based on Mangel's representation that diamonds ple…
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FERGUSON, Judge.
This appeal is from an order of the trial court which granted a “Motion for Judgment in Accordance with the Motion for Directed Verdict” or “in the alternative if for any reason [that judgment] is not affirmed upon an Appellate review,” a Motion for New Trial.
City National Bank of Miami instituted this action against Mangel for default on two promissory notes totalling $77,000, and for fraud based on Mangel’s representations that the diamonds pledged as collateral had a value in excess of $77,000 when in fact the collateral consisted of worthless glass facsimilies. Mangel counterclaimed, alleging that the stones given as collateral for the loan were in fact diamonds, in place of which Bank employees had substituted glass.
A jury returned a verdict for the Bank on its claim against Mangel for $107,790.92 including interest, which verdict is not appealed. On Mangel’s counterclaim against the Bank, the jury returned a verdict for $200,000. The verdict on the counterclaim is the subject of this appeal. We reverse the judgment in accordance with the motion for directed verdict and affirm the order granting a new trial.
It is only in the absence of any evidence or reasonable inferences supportive of the position of the nonmoving party that a trial court is authorized to direct a verdict. Hendricks v. Dailey, 208 So. 2d 101 (Fla.1968); Dandashi v. Fine, 397 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Behar v. Root, 393 So. 2d 1169 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Although the evidence was reasonably susceptible to inferences other than those drawn by the jury, there was some evidence to support the verdict on the counterclaim. A directed verdict was therefore improper. An order granting a new trial may be reviewed to ascertain whether there is a detectable abuse of discretion. Russo v. Clark, 147 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1962).
However, “[o]ne attacking such an order has a heavy burden to make error to appear in the exercise of the broad discretion allowed the judge who has presided at the trial, and who has had direct, personal contact with the presentation of the case as it unfolded at the trial level.” Hendricks, 208 So. 2d at 103. We have examined the court’s findings in support of the order,1 as well as the relevant facts as they appear in the record, and find no abuse of discretion in the grant of a new trial.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.
. The order states in pertinent part:
... The New Trial is granted for reasons including but not limited to the following: that the jury verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence presented; that the verdict was based on a misconception of the evidence and a misapplication of the law; that the verdict was arrived at through prejudice, passion, bias, or other improper influence; and that the jury was misled by the force and credibility of the evidence. The Counterdefendant [sic] failed to sustain his burden of proving conversion in that he failed to prove ownership of diamonds valued in an amount related to the jury verdict and failed to prove that the Counterdefendant wrongfully deprived him of said diamonds.
The jury was also swayed by conduct of the BANK which did not establish conversion and consequently their verdict did not follow the law of the case.
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Rivera v. Gaspar Aldrich, 538 So. 2d 1390 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)…ldrich, the jury found Berrocal had sustained no permanent injury but awarded him damages. On appellee’s motion, a new trial was ordered on all issues. An order granting new trial is reviewable for abuse of discretion. Mangel v. City National Bank, 451 So. 2d 927, 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (citation omitted). One who attacks such an order “ ‘has a heavy burden to make error to appear in the exercise of the broad discretion allowed the judge who has presided at the trial, and who has had direct, personal contact…
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Gutierrez v. Shaffer, 490 So. 2d 1299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…errez’s motion for a directed verdict, see generally Ligman v. Tardiff, 466 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); City of Hialeah v. Rehm, 455 So. 2d 458 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), review denied, 462 So. 2d 1107 (Fla.1985); Mangel v. City National Bank of Miami, 451 So. 2d 927 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), or in the jury verdict, which the record reveals to be supported by sufficient competent evidence. Helman v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, 349 So. 2d 1187 (Fla. 1977). Affirmed as modified.…
Authorities Cited
- Hendricks v. Dailey, 208 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 1968)
- Russo v. Nolan Clark, 147 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1962)
- Salem Dandashi and Mansham Dandashi v. Fine, 397 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
- Bart M. Behar v. Root, 393 So. 2d 1169 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)