Williams v. Armontrout

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Jerry Downing, a guard employed by the Missouri Department of Corrections, ap*438peals from a judgment in favor of Tommy Williams, an inmate, for $300.00 actual damages and $500.00 punitive damages on his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988) claim. The central issue in the appeal is whether the magistrate judge1 erred in ordering a new trial on damages only, when the jury in the first trial found in favor of Williams under an instruction which required a finding that he had been damaged, but denied an award of damages under instructions which required a finding that Williams had…