Ryan v. Crown Castle NG Networks, Inc.
Annotate this CaseRyan sued his former employer, NextG, alleging that NextG had breached a promise to grant him lucrative stock options as a condition of his employment. The case went to the jury with an “unclear special verdict form and unhelpful instructions.” The jury sustained two contract-based causes of action, but failed to find the value of the promised options, despite a directive on the verdict form that it do so. Instead it made a finding of the income plaintiff lost by entering the employment relationship, despite a directive obviating such a finding in light of the jury’s rejection of plaintiff’s tort causes of action. The trial court denied a motion for a new trial, and suggesting that declarations were necessary to determine “what the jury actually did.” The court of appeal reversed with instructions to grant a new trial. The court was fully empowered and obligated to make an independent assessment of the adequacy of the verdict, which was unmistakably unsound. If viewed as an award of tort damages, it had no foundation in law. If viewed as an award of contract damages, it had no foundation in fact.
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