In Re Bayerische Motoren Werke, AG

Justice HECHT, joined by Justice OWEN, dissenting from the denial of the motion for rehearing of the petition for mandamus.

If after a three-week trial the court refuses to render judgment on the verdict and instead orders a new trial on its own initiative, is the party who prevailed with the jury entitled to some meaningful explanation, not just that a new trial is “in the interest of justice and fairness”? When a trial court sets aside a jury verdict on its own and compels the parties to suffer the delay and the enormous expense of a retrial — tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of dollars…