{"id":4376,"date":"2017-08-10T01:54:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T01:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=4376"},"modified":"2017-08-13T21:20:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T21:20:58","slug":"rule-50-judgment-as-a-matter-of-law-in-a-jury-trial-related-motion-for-a-new-trial-conditional-ruling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=4376","title":{"rendered":"Rule 50 \u2013 Judgment as a Matter of Law in a Jury Trial; Related Motion for a New Trial; Conditional Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"

(a)\u00a0Judgment as a Matter of Law<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0In General.<\/em>\u00a0If a party has been fully heard on an issue during a jury trial and the court finds that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for the party on that issue, the court may:<\/span><\/p>\n

(A) resolve the issue against the party; and<\/span><\/p>\n

(B) grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law against the party on a claim or defense that, under the controlling law, can be maintained or defeated only with a favorable finding on that issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0Motion.<\/em>\u00a0A motion for judgment as a matter of law may be made at any time before the case is submitted to the jury. The motion must specify the judgment sought and the law and facts that entitle the movant to the judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n

(b)\u00a0Renewing the Motion After Trial<\/strong>; Alternative Motion for a New Trial.\u00a0If the court does not grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law made under\u00a0Rule 50(a), the court is considered to have submitted the action to the jury subject to the court\u2019s later deciding the legal questions raised by the motion. No later than 28 days after the entry of judgment\u2014or if the motion addresses a jury issue not decided by a verdict, no later than 28 days after the jury was discharged\u2014the movant may file a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and may include an alternative or joint request for a new trial under\u00a0Rule 59<\/a>. In ruling on the renewed motion, the court may:<\/span><\/p>\n

(1) allow judgment on the verdict, if the jury returned a verdict;<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) order a new trial; or<\/span><\/p>\n

(3) direct the entry of judgment as a matter of law.<\/span><\/p>\n

(c)\u00a0Granting the Renewed Motion; Conditional Ruling on a Motion for a New Trial<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0In General.<\/em>\u00a0If the court grants a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, it must also conditionally rule on any motion for a new trial by determining whether a new trial should be granted if the judgment is later vacated or reversed. The court must state the grounds for conditionally granting or denying the motion for a new trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0Effect of a Conditional Ruling.<\/em>\u00a0Conditionally granting the motion for a new trial does not affect the judgment\u2019s finality; if the judgment is reversed, the new trial must proceed unless the appellate court orders otherwise. If the motion for a new trial is conditionally denied, the appellee may assert error in that denial; if the judgment is reversed, the case must proceed as the appellate court orders.<\/span><\/p>\n

(d)\u00a0Time for a Losing Party\u2019s New-Trial Motion<\/strong>.\u00a0Any motion for a new trial under\u00a0Rule 59<\/a>\u00a0by a party against whom judgment as a matter of law is rendered must be filed no later than 28 days after the entry of the judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n

(e)\u00a0Denying the Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law; Reversal on Appeal<\/strong>.\u00a0If the court denies the motion for judgment as a matter of law, the prevailing party may, as appellee, assert grounds entitling it to a new trial should the appellate court conclude that the trial court erred in denying the motion. If the appellate court reverses the judgment, it may order a new trial, direct the trial court to determine whether a new trial should be granted, or direct the entry of judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(a)\u00a0Judgment as a Matter of Law. (1)\u00a0In General.\u00a0If a party has been fully heard on an issue during a jury trial and the court finds that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for the party on that issue, the court may: (A) resolve the issue against the party; … Continue reading Rule 50 \u2013 Judgment as a Matter of Law in a Jury Trial; Related Motion for a New Trial; Conditional Ruling<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5002,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4376","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5015,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4376\/revisions\/5015"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}