Fouse v. Persons

The trial court, as the statute authorizes, 1 set aside the jury verdict “in the interest of justice.” As the statute requires, 2 the trial court stated its reasons for setting aside the verdict and granting a new trial as follows:

“[T]he jury failed to follow the Court’s instructions in its answers to the damage questions, that the verdict is inconsistent, that the damages awarded are inadequate . . . and that the verdict is perverse. The Court further concludes that perversity permeates the entire verdict.”

In setting aside a jury verdict and ordering a new trial, a trial court has to steer…