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38
Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 1 of 10
O R D E R
plaintiffs' Motion For New Trial (document #35), and from said
motion, and the response thereto, the Court finds and orders as
follows:
not properly before the jury in this case and thereby tends to
Dockets.Justia.com
Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 2 of 10
cause confusion as to what issues were before the jury and what
"for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been
Plaintiffs rely on Rini v. Oaklawn Jockey Club, 861 F.2d 502 (8th
considered.
essentially undisputed:
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 3 of 10
Nathan Boursch.
deputies arrived.
the stolen weapons. The weapons were not found in the bus.
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 4 of 10
could not have legally and properly entered the bus without a
warrant.
Instruction 6 told the jury that the party who has the burden
1
As to the government defendant, there was the additional element that the search
had to be conducted pursuant to an official policy or decision.
2
The jury was instructed that if no actual damages were proven but a search
occurred, they were to award nominal damages.
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 5 of 10
the time of the alleged search in this case was irrelevant and
defendants’ conduct.
conduct a search (they did not so contend) and that they had
facts they were relying on for probable cause might have been
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 6 of 10
could tend to confuse the jury and cause them to think that if
home occurred, but also stated that it was not plaintiffs' burden
that there were things they could not consider when deciding
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 7 of 10
Inorganic Chemicals, Inc., 460 F.3d 1047, 1054 (8th Cir. 2006).
based on a finding that the bus was not the plaintiffs’ home and,
of evidence that Boursch had told them he spent the night there on
several occasions and had left some of his personal effects there.
Boursch only went into the bus to get his personal belongings, not
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 8 of 10
was strong:
weapons;
jail -- to the bus for the purpose of having him retrieve the
weapons.
verdict. The Court believes now that both were right in those
beliefs.
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 9 of 10
have been brief, the Court has no way of knowing and could only
such occurred.
whatever that may mean. The jury would have no way to place the
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Case 2:06-cv-02023-JLH Document 38 Filed 05/04/2007 Page 10 of 10
ruling was not related to the text of any such instruction because
the facts and circumstances of this case, the Court concludes that
there was error in the instructions, and cannot conclude that such
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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