Filed: Feb. 04, 2013
Latest Update: Mar. 26, 2017
Summary: 11-3787-cv(L) DePascale v. Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH
Summary: 11-3787-cv(L) DePascale v. Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH ..
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11-3787-cv(L)
DePascale v. Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT.
CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS
PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE
PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A
SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST
CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH
THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER
MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the
Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the
4th day of February, two thousand thirteen.
Present:
CHESTER J. STRAUB,
PETER W. HALL,
CHRISTOPHER F. DRONEY,
Circuit Judges.
____________________________________________________
GERARD DEPASCALE, LIAM NEVILLE, JOANNE
DEPASCALE,
Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees,
v. 11-3787-cv(L); 11-3894-cv(XAP)
SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, INC., GTE
CORPORATION, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS
INC., GTE PRODUCTS OF CONNECTICUT
CORPORATION, GTE OPERATIONS SUPPORT
INCORPORATED, OSRAM SYLVANIA INC.,
OSRAM SYLVANIA PRODUCTS INC.,
Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants.
____________________________________________________
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FOR APPELLANTS: JOSEPH DARIO GONZALEZ, JR., Lee & Fields, APC, Los Angeles,
California.
FOR APPELLEES: FRANK HOLOZUBIEC (William Pratt, on the brief), Kirkland & Ellis
LLP, New York, New York.
____________________________________________________
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
New York (Wexler, J.).
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND
DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Plaintiffs-appellants-cross-appellees Gerard DePascale, Joanne DePascale, and Liam
Neville appeal the district court’s order granting in part defendants’ motion for a new trial
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a). DePascale v. Sylvania Elec. Prods., Inc.,
710 F. Supp. 2d 275
(E.D.N.Y. 2010). Following a jury trial on negligence claims resulting in a $12 million verdict
in favor of plaintiffs, the district court ordered a new trial limited to the application of the
government contractor defense. The second jury trial resulted in a verdict in favor of defendants.
Defendants filed a “conditional” cross-appeal raising alleged errors that occurred during the first
trial. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal.
I. Applicable Law
We review for abuse of discretion a district court’s order granting a new trial on the
ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. Raedle v. Credit Agricole
Indosuez,
670 F.3d 411, 417 (2d Cir. 2012). A verdict is against the weight of the evidence “if
and only if [it] is seriously erroneous or a miscarriage of justice.” Farrior v. Waterford Bd. of
Educ.,
277 F.3d 633, 635 (2d Cir. 2002). Unlike a Rule 50 motion for judgment as a matter of
law, when considering a motion for a new trial under Rule 59, the district court is not required to
view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party but may weigh the evidence
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and the credibility of witnesses. Raedle, 670 F.3d at 418. The standard a district court applies in
reviewing a motion for a new trial is “less stringent” than that for a motion for judgment as a
matter of law. United States v. Landau,
155 F.3d 93, 104 (2d Cir. 1998). This does not mean,
however, that a district court “may freely substitute his or her assessment of the credibility of
witnesses for that of the jury simply because the judge disagrees with the jury.” Id. at 104;
Raedle, 670 F.3d at 418. Where resolution of the issues at trial depends on an assessment of the
credibility of witnesses, district courts should be particularly cognizant of the danger of usurping
the jury’s function. See Raedle, 670 F.3d at 418.
II. Discussion
In its Rule 59 analysis, the district court did not usurp the jury’s functions. In holding
that the jury’s finding with regard to the government contractor defense was a “miscarriage of
justice,” the district court relied on the “overwhelming” evidence in favor of applying the
defense. DePascale, 710 F. Supp. 2d at 286. The district court “combed the record for evidence
that could have been relied upon to support the jury’s rejection of the government contractor
defense” and found “approximately eight pages of testimony (in a transcript comprising 840
pages).” Id. The district court noted that some of that testimony—by Dr. Lee Davenport, a
former employee at Sylvania—conflicted with the same witness’s earlier testimony and with that
of another witness with firsthand knowledge of the commercial operations at the Hicksville site,
to the extent any existed. Thus, the district court did not rely exclusively on his own assessment
of witness credibility in ordering a new trial.
Plaintiffs challenge the district court’s decision to limit the issue for retrial to the
government contractor defense, rather than ordering a full retrial. Plaintiffs argue that the
government contractor defense was so intertwined with other issues resolved at the first trial that
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the decision to isolate the defense from other issues constituted a manifest injustice. “It is well
established that a partial new trial ‘may not properly be resorted to unless it clearly appears that
the issue to be retried is so distinct and separable from the others that a trial of it alone may be
had without injustice.’” Bohack Corp. v. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc.,
715 F.2d 703, 709 (2d Cir.
1983) (quoting Gasoline Prods. Co. v. Champlin Ref. Co.,
283 U.S. 494, 500 (1931)); see also
Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a)(1) (permitting a trial court to “grant a new trial on all or some of the
issues”). In support of their argument, plaintiffs note that their complaint focuses on conduct
occurring after 1987, in stark contrast to the issues central to the government contractor defense,
which relate to facts and conduct occurring before 1967. Plaintiffs contend that limiting a retrial
to an affirmative defense that focuses on pre-1967 conduct – when plaintiffs’ complaint focuses
on conduct that occurred twenty years later – is manifestly unjust. To the contrary, however, this
argument demonstrates that the issues surrounding the government contractor defense are not
inextricably intertwined with other factual issues and that the defense lends itself to a separate
and limited retrial. See Gasoline Prods Co., 283 U.S. at 499 (holding that where a verdict has
been reached upon one issue of fact, the Seventh Amendment “does not compel a new trial of
that issue even though another and separable issue must be tried again”). As the district court
determined that the verdict, to the extent it found that the government contractor defense did not
apply, was against the weight of the evidence, the court did not exceed the bounds of its
discretion in limiting the retrial to the separate and distinct issue of the defense itself; it was not
obligated to order a new trial in full.
Plaintiffs next argue that even if the district court did not err by ordering a limited retrial,
it abused its discretion in determining that the proof supporting the application of the defense
was so overwhelming that the jury’s finding that the defense did not apply was a miscarriage of
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justice. The government contractor defense recognizes that the “‘uniquely federal interest[]’ of
‘getting the Government’s work done’ requires that, under some circumstances, independent
contractors be protected from tort liability associated with their performance of government
procurement contracts.” In re Agent Orange Prod. Liab. Litig.,
517 F.3d 76, 87 (2d Cir. 2008)
(quoting Boyle v. United Techs. Corp.,
487 U.S. 500, 504-05 (1988)). To establish the defense, a
defendant must show that “(1) the United States approved reasonably precise specifications; (2)
the equipment conformed to those specifications; and (3) the supplier warned the United States
about the dangers in the use of the equipment that were known to the supplier but not to the
United States.” Boyle, 487 U.S. at 512.
As the parties requested, the court employed a jury verdict form with a general question
asking whether defendants were entitled to the defense rather than separate questions regarding
whether each element of the defense had been established. We cannot tell, therefore, on which
grounds the jury rested its finding. Plaintiffs offered two theories to support the jury’s original
finding that the defense did not apply. First, plaintiffs argue that there was sufficient evidence to
support a finding that defendants were engaged in a parallel commercial operation, separate and
distinct from the work performed under Sylvania’s contract with the Atomic Energy Commission
(“AEC”) (the “Contract”), that would preclude the application of the government contractor
defense. Plaintiffs cite the testimony of Dr. Davenport, a former Sylvania employee, indicating
that such a parallel commercial operation existed. See Def. App. 1292-1300; 1565. Dr.
Davenport’s testimony on this point is unclear as to whether commercial operations were
ongoing simultaneously with the work performed under the Contract, or whether Sylvania
planned to begin commercial operations at some future point. At various times, Dr. Davenport
refers to “forthcoming commercial work,” and states that because “[w]e were going to have
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commercial work as well,” he had intended to hire a marketing staff. Def. App. 1292, 1293.
This testimony indicates that Sylvania contemplated engaging in commercial work at the
Hicksville site in the future, not that it was actually engaged in it at the same time it was
discharging its obligations under the Contract. At other points, however, Dr. Davenport states
that certain work performed at the Hicksville site was in fact “for commercial purposes,” thus
indicating the existence of a parallel commercial operation. Def. App. 1292.
Summarized, Dr. Davenport’s testimony is indeed evidence – albeit weak evidence, in
the absence of corroborating testimony – of a parallel commercial operation at Sylvania. Were
we tasked with reviewing the district court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law, rather than an
order for retrial, this evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, would be
sufficient to defeat such a motion. Indeed, the district court held as much, and denied
defendants’ post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law on this ground. In considering
defendants’ motion for a new trial, however, the district court was not required to view the
evidence in a light favorable to plaintiffs, and was permitted to weigh the evidence. See Raedle,
670 F.3d at 418.
The evidence supporting the government contractor defense, by contrast, is indeed
“overwhelming.” DePascale, 710 F. Supp. 2d at 286. Dr. Davenport testified that the
government “was involved in almost every phase of the work” at the Hicksville site. Id. at 282
(internal quotation marks omitted). More specifically, he testified that perchloroethylene and
trichloroethylene were used during the production process to ensure that the uranium slugs were
free of “impurities or anything that got in th[e] interface [between the aluminum casing and the
uranium itself that] would interfere with the cooling rate.” Def. App. 1558. Dr. Davenport
testified that the AEC “underst[ood] and approve[d] the use of these solvents at the Hicksville
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facility,” and that the decision that these were appropriate solvents for this work “had been made
with AEC approval.” Def. App. 1560. Nickel was used during the production process to ensure
that “the slug would adhere metallurgically to the uranium inside so that heat transfer could go
across that gap.” Def. App. 1561. Dr. Cohen, Sylvania’s former general counsel, testified that
the Contract “covered every aspect of the operation at Hicksville.” Def. App. 1126. Under the
Contract, the AEC “retain[ed] title to all products, by-products, wastage, salvage, work-in-
progress, residues and scrap resulting from [property utilized in the work of this contract].” Def.
App. 1468-69.
Characterized generally, this evidence indicates that the AEC was intimately involved in
Sylvania’s manufacture of uranium fuel elements at the Hicksville site. Particularly important,
the evidence shows that the AEC understood and approved the use of these solvents, and by
implication, was aware of their accompanying risks. Nickel was used in a related step in the
production process, which by all accounts was closely supervised by the AEC. Moreover,
pursuant to the Contract, all these materials were owned by the government. Although, as
recognized by the district court, evidence on these issues is indeed contradictory, we cannot
conclude under our deferential standard of review that the court committed reversible error in
rejecting plaintiffs’ argument that evidence of a parallel commercial enterprise at the Hicksville
site supported the jury’s finding that the government contractor defense applied. See Farrior,
277 F.3d at 635.
The second theory offered by plaintiffs to support the jury’s finding regarding the
government contractor defense is that defendants did not establish each element of the defense as
it applied to plaintiffs’ failure-to-warn or premises liability claim. This argument relies on the
premise, disputed by defendants, that plaintiffs adequately pled and argued a failure-to-warn
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claim at trial. We need not address whether plaintiffs sufficiently pled and argued a failure-to-
warn claim to permit such a finding. To the extent plaintiffs argue that the jury’s initial finding
could have rested on its determination that defendants did not establish the defense applied to
plaintiffs’ failure-to-warn or premises liability claim, this argument was not made before the
district court. It has therefore been waived. See Bogle-Assegai v. Connecticut,
470 F.3d 498,
504 (2d Cir. 2006).
III. Conclusion
Because we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting in part
defendants’ motion for a new trial, we need not address the alleged errors at the first trial raised
by defendants. We have considered all of plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and find them to be
without merit. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
FOR THE COURT:
Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
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