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Lang v. Morant1/13/2005
Submitted: December 15, 2004
Upon appeal from the Superior Court. VACATED and REMANDED.
In this automobile personal-injury action, Danielle Lang, a defendant below, appeals from an order of a Superior Court judge that set aside an initial jury verdict in her favor and granted a new trial. The second trial resulted in a jury award of $25,000 to Appellee Raymond Morant. Lang appeals that result as well. The trial judge, in the initial trial, specifically asked the jury to determine as a matter of fact whether the person driving Lang's car had acted as Lang's agent at the time of the accident. Despite submitting the issue of agency to the jury in the first trial, the trial judge then decided to set aside the initial jury verdict and order a new trial on two alternative grounds. First, the trial judge found that Lang so controlled the driver's actions that the negligent driver became her agent as a matter of law. Second, the trial judge found sua sponte that several remarks by Lang's counsel in summation had substantially prejudiced Morant's case.
We conclude that the trial judge correctly submitted the issue of agency to the jury in the first trial and that the evidence did not preponderate so heavily against the jury's finding that no reasonable jury could find that Lang's driver was not acting as her agent at the time of the accident. We must therefore conclude that the trial judge abused her discretion by setting aside the jury's verdict in the first trial. Moreover, because defense counsel's comments, although improper, focused exclusively on matters apart from the jury's agency-related findings, we also conclude that the trial judge erred when she overturned the jury's verdict on that basis sua sponte. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the Superior Court ordering a new trial, all subsequent rulings, and the second jury verdict. We remand with instructions to reinstate the original jury verdict and to enter judgment in favor of Lang.
I.
In April 1997, Morant drove a car that collided with the car owned by Lang and driven by someone she knew only as "Lewis." Shortly before the accident, Lang, Lewis, and a mutual friend rode to a local fast-food restaurant in New Castle County. After picking up another passenger, they left the restaurant. Once on the highway, Lewis drove Lang's car into the rear of Morant's. After a brief conversation with Lewis and Lang, Morant left the scene to call the police. By the time Morant returned, Lewis and the other passengers had fled. Lang remained, but could not provide Lewis's full name to the investigating officer.
After unsuccessful attempts to identify the driver, Morant filed suit in Superior Court against Lang and the pseudonymous Lewis, alleging that Lang had negligently entrusted her vehicle to Lewis. Lang then moved for summary judgment. Recognizing that his complaint might not survive solely on a negligent entrustment claim, Morant moved shortly thereafter to amend to add an agency theory of liability. The trial judge denied both motions, citing no reason other than her concern that Lewis remained unidentified and that dismissing Lang would leave Morant without a remedy.
Although she had earlier denied Morant's motion to amend, to allege an agency theory of liability, at the trial the trial judge concluded that the evidence presented at trial was consistent with an agency relationship and that to conform to that evidence the jury must be instructed on an agency theory. The jury then specifically found no agency relationship and returned a verdict for Lang. Later, Morant moved for a new trial, contending that the jury deliberated without fully understanding the principles of agen
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