A retrial must be held in a personal injury case because transcript “inadequacies,” created by a court reporter who fell asleep during trial and later died, prevented a judge from properly considering a motion to set aside the verdict, a state appeals court has ruled.
“When no agreement and no [transcript] reconstruction is possible, a new trial is required,” an Appellate Division, Second Department, panel wrote in Monaco v. New York City Transit Authority, 25829/2011. “The Supreme Court determined that it could not meaningfully review the branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was to set aside the jury verdict as contrary to the weight of the evidence because of the inadequacies.”
