United States Eighth Circuit

In an action for breach of an insurance contract and bad faith, district court judgment against defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant failed to preserve for review its contention that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on its bad-faith claim; 2) objection to the instruction on bad faith was waived as defendant failed to raise the objection during the instruction conference before the case was submitted, and the jury instructions as a whole fairly and adequately submitted the issues in the case to the jury; 3) the court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion for a mistrial or a new trial based on juror misconduct, as the misconduct was innocuous and the juror was removed from the panel; 4) the jury verdict on the bad faith claim was supported by sufficient evidence, and the damages award was not excessive; and 5) the court did not err in submitting the punitive damages issue to the jury, and the jury's award was neither excessive nor unconstitutional.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/14/2009
• Published 08/14/2009

Judges

• ARNOLD, Circuit Judge., Before MURPHY, ARNOLD, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert B. Stock, argued, Carlton J. Hunke, on the brief, Fargo, ND, for Appllant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Richard A. Clapp, argued, Sarah S. Barron, on the brief, Grand Forks, ND, for Appellee.