Anunziatta v. Orkin Exterminating Co.
Anunziatta v. Orkin Exterminating Co.
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
THIS SUMMARY ORDER WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED IN THE FEDERAL REPORTER AND MAY NOT BE CITED AS PRECEDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO THIS OR ANY OTHER COURT, BUT MAY BE CALLED TO THE ATTENTION OF THIS OR ANY OTHER COURT IN A SUBSEQUENT STAGE OF THIS CASE, IN A RELATED CASE, OR IN ANY CASE FOR PURPOSES OF COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL OR RES JUDICATA.
At a stated Term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, at Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 3rd day of December, two thousand four.
ON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court be and hereby is AFFIRMED.
Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s order dated March 31, 2003, granting the defendant’s motion for judgment in its favor on plaintiffs’ gross negligence claim in accordance with the jury’s answers to special interrogatories, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 49(b), and denying plaintiffs’ motion for, inter alia, judgment as a matter of law on their deceptive business practices claim, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the proceedings below, the factual record, and the arguments on appeal, and we affirm for the reasons that follow.
As to the gross negligence claim: We see no basis for distinguishing “between the date upon which a cause of action arises” for purposes of calculating pre-judgment interest “and the date upon which it accrues” for purposes of the relevant statute of limitations. Appellants’ Br. at 9; see N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5001(b) (McKinney Supp. 2004) (providing that pre-judgment interest “shall be computed from the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed”); Property Owners Ass’n of Harbor Acres, Inc. v. Ying, 137 A.D.2d 509, 524 N.Y.S.2d 252, 255 (App.Div. 1988); M.C.D. Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Bedford, 98 A.D.2d 714, 469 N.Y.S.2d 117, 118 (App. Div. 1983). The district court’s instruction to the jury to determine “when the facts indicated that the various claims to damages first existed” assumed knowledge of its prior instruction that Orkin could only be liable for gross negligence if it proximately caused the plaintiffs’ injury. Read as a whole, the instructions conveyed to the jury that they were choosing the date on which Orkin’s gross negligence first
Plaintiffs’ various objections are unavailing. The jury’s finding that the cause of action arose on January 7, 1994, is not irrational, given the evidence that plaintiffs discovered termites that day, two weeks after a treatment by Orkin. Nor did the defendant waive its statute of limitations defense, having invoked it in its answer, and in any event, plaintiffs suffered no prejudice from the resurrection of this defense at trial’s twilight, as they were on notice that in seeking interrogatory number six for their own strategic purposes, they would have to accept the risk that they might not like the answer the jury returned.
As to the deceptive business practices claim: Plaintiffs’ motion for judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) pursuant to Rule 50(b) was barred, as plaintiffs failed to move for that relief “at any time before submission of the case to the jury,” Fed. R.Civ.P. 50(a)(2), and “[t]here is no provision for a JMOL motion to be made for the first time after trial.” McCardle v. Haddad, 131 F.3d 43, 50-51 (2d Cir. 1997); see Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b) advisory committee note (1963) (“A motion for judgment not
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
. Without any reason to believe it is clearly erroneous, we accept the district court's account of the un-transcribed portion of the charging conference, see United States v. Zichettello, 208 F.3d 72, 93 (2d Cir. 2000); Polizzi v. United States, 926 F.2d 1311, 1319-20 & n. 12 (2d Cir. 1991), and, in any event, the plaintiffs do not dispute the district court’s crucial finding that "[c]ounsel was specifically advised by the Court during this charge conference that the answers to special interrogatories 6 and 7 would be used to determine the accrual date of the applicable statute of limitations on each cause of action.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Dennis ANUNZIATTA and Margaret Anunziatta v. ORKIN EXTERMINATING COMPANY, INC.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published