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HAGEN v. DENOOY2/26/1997
[563 NW2d Page 6]
On May 12, 1992, Donna Diane Ten Hagen's 1978 Dodge van collided with a tractor and cultivator on a rural gravel road. Jamie Bruxvoort, age seventeen, was operating the tractor at the time of the collision. The tractor and cultivator were owned by Ron DeNooy. Ten Hagen filed suit against DeNooy and later sued Bruxvoort and his father. The matters were consolidated for trial.
At trial, the evidence indicated a portion of the tractor or cultivator was on the wrong side of the road. Ten Hagen's van approached from the north at a disputed speed between twenty-five and sixty-five miles per hour. Bruxvoort approached from the south. Ten Hagen applied her brakes and left skid marks on the road before colliding with the tractor and cultivator.
After trial, a jury returned a verdict finding defendants at fault, but also finding that defendants' fault was not a proximate cause of plaintiff's damages. Plaintiff filed a motion for new trial alleging three grounds. First, she argued the verdict was inconsistent as the jury found defendants were at fault but did not award damages. Second, she claimed jury misconduct tainted the outcome of the trial. Juror affidavits indicated that during a weekend break two of the jurors did their own braking tests and determined that plaintiff must have been going over twenty-five miles per hour. Third, she argued the court erred, essentially, in failing to instruct the jury that defendants were negligent in failing to yield one-half of the roadway to plaintiff.
In granting plaintiff's motion for new trial, the district court found the jury misconduct was not sufficient to affect the verdict; however, it also found the jury's determination that defendants were at fault but their fault was not a proximate cause of plaintiff's damages was inconsistent. Defendants appeal. They assert the trial court abused its discretion in granting plaintiff's motion for new trial.
I. New Trial. Our review of a district court's action on a motion for new trial is for abuse of discretion. Foggia v. Des Moines Bowl-O-Mat, Inc., 543 N.W.2d 889, 892 (Iowa 1996). In rulings upon motions for new trial, we give the district court broad but not unlimited discretion in determining [563 NW2d Page 7]
whether the verdict effectuated substantial justice between the parties. See Iowa R. App. P. 14(f)(3). "We will not find abuse of discretion unless it is shown that the trial court's discretion was exercised on grounds clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable." Kiner v. Reliance Ins. Co., 463 N.W.2d 9, 13 (Iowa 1990). We are more reluctant to interfere with the grant of a new trial than its refusal. Iowa R. App. P. 14(f)(4).
In granting plaintiff's request for new trial, the district court found the following:
There is no question before the jury but that the van was damaged in the collision and for the jury to find that the defendants were at fault but that their fault was not a proximate cause of the damage to the van is inconsistent.
Although standing alone the court does not believe that the conduct of the jury itself would warrant the granting of a new trial, the court does believe that the inconsistency in the answers to the verdict form questions and the conduct of the jurors does rise to the level of the court now finding that substantial justice was not done and that a new trial should be granted.
As part of the instructions, special verdict forms were provided to the jury. The first question posed on the verdict form was, "Were the defendants at fault?" The jury answered this question affirmatively. The second inquiry on the verdict form appears as
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