Aberson v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Citations

• 68 Fla. 196
• 67 So. 44

Syllabus

<p>1. On writ of error to an order granting a new trial, only the the order and the motion on which it is predicated can be considered.</p> <p>2. The principles that govern in directing verdicts and in granting new trials after verdict are not the same.</p> <p>3. There may be no inconsistency in granting new trial in a case in which a request for a directed verdict was denied. An order granting a new trial may be sustained by the appellate court when a directed verdict would not be approved.</p> <p>4. A verdict on the evidence should be directed for one party only when the evidence would not be legally sufficient to sustain a verdict for the opposite party. A new trial may be granted on the evidence when, in the opinion of the court, the verdict is contrary to the manifest probative force of the evidence and the justice of the cause.</p> <p>5. After verdict rendered, the trial court may for good cause, set it aside and grant a new trial in appropriate proceedings; but this judicial power and discretion to grant a new trial should not be confounded with the more limited authority to direct a verdict for one party only when a finding for the opposite party should be unlawful.</p> <p>6. After a verdict is duly found it should not be disturbed by the trial court, on the ground that the evidence is insufficient to support it, unless it appears from the entire case that the verdict is against the manifest probative force of the evidence and the legal rights of the parties, thereby showing that the jury were not governed by the evidence or misapplied the law in making the finding.</p> <p>7. A motion for a new trial is addressed to the sound judicial discretion of the court, and where a trial court grants such a motion, the action in doing so is presumed to be in accordance with the justice and merits of the ease, unless the contrary -appears by the record.</p> <p>8. An order of the trial court granting a new trial should not be disturbed by an appellate court, unless it ap