Opinion
November 14, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Alan Saks, J.).
In this rather routine two-vehicle accident tried on the issue of liability only, damages having been stipulated to at the sum of $250,000, said sum to be reduced proportionately by any comparative negligence assessed against the plaintiff driver, the jury was presented with a classic case of conflicting accounts, which it resolved in favor of the defendants, a bus driver and his employer. While a trial court may, in the exercise of discretion, set aside a verdict, it may not do so merely because it disagrees with the result. Its power in this area must be exercised with caution since, in the absence of an indication that substantial justice has not been done, a litigant is entitled to the benefit of a favorable verdict. Fact-finding is within the province of the jury, not the trial court. "[A] jury verdict in favor of a defendant should not be set aside unless `the jury could not have reached the verdict on any fair interpretation of the evidence'." ( Nicastro v Park, 113 A.D.2d 129, 134, quoting Delgado v Board of Educ., 65 A.D.2d 547, affd 48 N.Y.2d 643; see, Ellis v Hoelzel, 57 A.D.2d 968.) In the instant case, there is no basis upon which to set aside the verdict.
Concur — Sullivan, J.P., Kupferman, Williams and Tom, JJ.