Standards to Review, Part 1
“Strong reasons make strong actions.”
- King John III,4; Dauphin to Cardinal Pandulph
Fundamental to the appellate process is the principle that appellate courts review the record without second guessing findings of fact in the trial court. Therefore, for every issue raised in an appeal, you must identify how much respect the appellate court must give to a decision from the lower court, aka the standard of review. Which leads me to the current series exploring the various appellate standards of review.
This week, we begin with the Material Evidence Standard. The standard of review employed by the appellate court in reviewing a jury verdict in a civil action asks whether there is material evidence to support the jury’s verdict. Tenn. R. App. P. 13(d).) Thus, the appellate court’s scope of review is limited to searching “the record to ascertain if material evidence is present to support the verdict. It matters not a whit where the weight or preponderance of the evidence lies . . . .” Hohenberg Bros. Co. v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Co., 586 S.W.2d 117, 119 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1979). This standard is also encountered in appeals of administrative decisions. See Leonard Plating Co. v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 213 S.W.3d 898, 904 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Dec. 27, 2006) (stating court may review the record solely to determine whether it contains any material evidence to support the decision because a decision without evidentiary support is an arbitrary one.)
What is “material evidence”? It “is relevant evidence that a reasonable person would accept as adequate to support a rational conclusion.” Id. The Tennessee Supreme Court has stated if “the record contains ‘any material evidence to support the verdict, [the jury’s findings] must be affirmed; if it were otherwise, the parties would be deprived of their constitutional right to trial by jury.”’ Barnes v. Goodyear, 48 S.W.3d 698, 704 (Tenn. 2000). In the context of review of administrative decisions, the amount of material evidence required “must exceed a scintilla of evidence but may be less than a preponderance of the evidence.” Leonard, 213 S.W.3d at 904.
To determine whether there is material evidence to support a verdict, the appellate court will (1) take the strongest legitimate view of all the evidence in favor of the verdict; (2) assume the truth of all evidence that supports the verdict; (3) allow all reasonable inferences to sustain the verdict; and (4) discard all countervailing evidence. See Barnes, 48 S.W.3d at 704.
Overturning a jury verdict is difficult, but not impossible. When facing a difficult standard of review, acknowledge the challenge and take it head-on.
