Clark v. Bodycombe

BRANCH, Justice.

The single question presented by this appeal is whether the trial judge erred by granting defendant’s motion for a directed verdict. The Court of Appeals sustained the judgment granting a directed verdict on the premises that: (1) plaintiff failed to show actionable negligence on the part of the defendant and (2) that plaintiff had established her own contributory negligence as a matter of law.

When a defendant moves for a directed verdict pursuant to Rule 50(a), the trial judge must take plaintiff’s evidence to be true, consider all the evidence in the light most favorable to…