Carl O. Akermanis, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Sea-Land Service, Inc., Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge:

This appeal concerns primarily the issue, apparently one of first impression in the federal courts, whether a trial judge may use the device of a new trial order conditioned on a remittitur to increase a jury’s determination of the percent of responsibility for an injury that is attributable to a plaintiff’s contributory negligence. That device was employed in this suit under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1976), brought by plaintiff Carl 0. Akermanis, an injured seaman, against defendant shipowner Sea-Land Service, Inc. After plaintiff agreed to the remittitur, the…