Civil Procedure II

Substantive Flaws

Substantive flaws are flaws where the jury returned a verdict they should not have.

There are two types of substantive flaws:

1. Where the jury splits the difference in its verdict
   • E.g., jury must either return a verdict for $10,000 or $0 and it instead returns $5,000.
2. Where "the verdict is against the great weight of the evidence."
   • Most common ground for a new trial based on a substantive flaw
   • This is a lower standard than for a (renewed) judgment as a matter of law.
   • It must be "quite clear that the jury reached a seriously erroneous result."
   • This standard is somewhere between requiring no reasonable basis and the judge substituting how he would would have voted.