Moore v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., No. 08-3238

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. 

Read Moore v. Am. Family Mut Ins. Co., No. 08-3238

Appellate Information
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota.
Submitted: June 10, 2009
Filed: August 14, 2009

Judges
Before MURPHY, ARNOLD, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.