Manuel v. MDOW Ins. Co., No. 14-3092 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseManuel’s home burned down while he and his family were vacationing in Las Vegas. Manuel had insured his home through MDOW with a policy providing $150,000 for the house, $75,000 for personal property, and $45,000 for added costs. Manuel filed a claim for the fire, but MDOW denied it. MDOW told Manuel that it believed he or someone acting on his behalf had intentionally set the fire and that Manuel’s claim form contained fraudulent information. Manuel sued. A jury found that MDOW proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Manuel “either burned his home or caused it to be burned.” The jury did not decide whether Manuel had intentionally misrepresented information during the fire investigation. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, agreeing even under an “implied bias” test of juror impartiality, there was insufficient potential bias alleged to warrant a new trial. The court rejected an argument that the court erred by allowing the testimony of MDOW’s expert witness, who disagreed with parts of the National Fire Protection Association 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations.
Court Description: Kelly, Author, with Murphy and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Insurance. Given the fact that there was no evidence that either of two jurors had actual bias against plaintiff's witnesses or that the circumstances presented an extreme situation from which the court could imply bias, the district court did not err in denying plaintiff's motion for new trial based on family relations between one juror and witness or past interactions between a witness and a second juror; while the court has some concerns about the testimony of defendant's fire expert, plaintiff did not object to the testimony, and the district court did not clearly error in permitting testimony from defendant's expert witness that the fire had been set intentionally.
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