Filed: May 20, 2014
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAY 20 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS JOHN L. SHERMAN, No. 12-35980 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 1:12-cv-00483-PA v. MEMORANDUM* TRACY WOOD and ROD MCALLISTER, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Owen M. Panner, Senior District Judge, Presiding Submitted May 16, 2014** Portland, Oregon Before: ALARCÓN, TASHIMA, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAY 20 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS JOHN L. SHERMAN, No. 12-35980 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 1:12-cv-00483-PA v. MEMORANDUM* TRACY WOOD and ROD MCALLISTER, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Owen M. Panner, Senior District Judge, Presiding Submitted May 16, 2014** Portland, Oregon Before: ALARCÓN, TASHIMA, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges. P..
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MAY 20 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
JOHN L. SHERMAN, No. 12-35980
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 1:12-cv-00483-PA
v.
MEMORANDUM*
TRACY WOOD and ROD
MCALLISTER,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Oregon
Owen M. Panner, Senior District Judge, Presiding
Submitted May 16, 2014**
Portland, Oregon
Before: ALARCÓN, TASHIMA, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-Appellant John Sherman appeals from a judgment entered pursuant
to the jury’s verdict in favor of Appellees Tracy Wood and Rod McAllister, and
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
from the denial of his motion for a new trial, pursuant to Rule 59(a) of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure. We have jurisdiction, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and
we affirm.
The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Sherman’s motion
for a new trial, because the jury’s verdict was not against the weight of the
evidence. The officers’ testimony and other evidence at trial supported the jury’s
conclusion that the officers had probable cause to arrest Sherman for criminal
mischief in the third degree. See Or. Rev. Stat. § 164.345(1). Because there was
“some reasonable basis” for the jury’s decision, Molski v. M.J. Cable, Inc.,
481
F.3d 724, 729–30 (9th Cir. 2007), the district court’s denial was not an abuse of
discretion.
To the extent Sherman contends that the evidence at trial was insufficient to
support the jury’s verdict, he has not preserved his claim. Sherman did not file a
motion for judgment as a matter of law during trial, pursuant to Rule 50(a) of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or a renewed motion for a judgment as a matter
of law after trial, pursuant to Rule 50(b). Sherman’s failure to file these motions
means that he has “procedurally default[ed] a civil appeal based on the alleged
insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict” and that his “procedurally
2
barred sufficiency challenge . . . is considered forfeited.”1 Nitco Holding Corp. v.
Boujikian,
491 F.3d 1086, 1087 (9th Cir. 2007) (applying Unitherm Food Sys., Inc.
v. Swift–Eckrich, Inc.,
546 U.S. 394 (2006)).
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
AFFIRMED.
1
Sherman did not file an optional reply brief in response to the Ninth Circuit
authorities cited by Appellees in their answering brief that provide that the failure
to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence pursuant to Rule 50(a) and Rule 50(b)
precludes this Court from reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence presented at
trial.
3