O’Connor v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. case brief

O’Connor v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. case brief summary
308 F.2d 911 (1962)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant pedestrian challenged an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which granted the motion of appellee railroad for a judgment non obstante veredicto in an action brought by appellant for injuries suffered from a slip and fall in appellee's station.

CASE FACTS
Appellant pedestrian brought suit against appellee railroad for injuries from a slip and fall in appellee's station. The trial court granted appellee's motion for judgment non obstante veredicto. Appellant sought review.

DISCUSSION

• The court affirmed, observing that it had to judge the propriety of a judgment non obstante veredicto by the same standards used by the trial court. 
• A jury's verdict could not be allowed to stand when the jury's findings were so contrary to proven physical facts that they amounted to unreasonable, if not impossible, findings of fact. 
• The uncontradicted evidence proffered by appellee was so overwhelming that it totally outweighed any testimony on behalf of appellant with the result that the jury's verdict simply was not within the range of reasonable probability.

CONCLUSION
The order granting appellee railroad's motion for a judgment non obstante veredicto in a slip and fall action by appellant pedestrian was affirmed, because the uncontradicted evidence offered by appellee so overwhelmingly outweighed the testimony on behalf of appellant that it would have been improper to permit the jury's verdict to stand.

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