Art. 1811.Motion For Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict

A judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which practitioners shorten to JNOV, lets a trial court set aside a jury's verdict and enter judgment the other way when the verdict cannot be reconciled with the evidence. Article 1811 gives that device a seven-day filing deadline, excluding legal holidays, running from when the clerk mails or delivers in open court, or the sheriff serves, notice of judgment — or, if no verdict was returned at all, from when the jury was discharged. A motion for new trial can ride along with the JNOV motion, either joined with it or requested as an alternative.

Once a JNOV motion is before it, the trial court has options. If a verdict was returned, the court can let the judgment stand, or reopen it and either order a new trial or render the JNOV itself. If no verdict came back, the court can render a judgment or order a new trial instead. When the court grants a JNOV, Paragraph C requires it to also rule on any companion new-trial motion — conditionally granting or denying that motion in case the JNOV is later vacated or reversed on appeal, and specifying its grounds either way. That conditional ruling does not affect the finality of the judgment, and it dictates what happens if the appellate court reverses: the new trial proceeds unless the appellate court says otherwise where the new-trial motion was conditionally granted, and the appellate court's own order controls where it was conditionally denied.

The article also protects the party who loses on a JNOV motion in either direction. A party whose verdict is set aside by a JNOV may move for a new trial under the general new-trial articles, with its own seven-day deadline running from notice of the JNOV judgment. And a party who defeats a JNOV motion — meaning the verdict against them stood — can still argue as appellee, if the case goes up on appeal, that it is entitled to a new trial in the event the appellate court decides the trial court should have granted the JNOV after all. Finally, Paragraph F makes clear a JNOV is not all-or-nothing: it can be granted on liability alone, on damages alone, or on both.