Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Stoked at winning a nonsuit?

In this split-decision unpub from 2/1 here, the majority (reversing a nonsuit) says this:

Appellate courts have deemed it especially perilous for a trial court to grant a nonsuit after opening statement because this procedural device effectively takes the case away from the jury before any evidence is received. This case exemplifies the risk of removing a highly fact-intensive issue from the jury’s consideration after a plaintiff has merely set forth a general roadmap of the evidence expected at trial.