Following a civil jury trial arising from a sexual assault of a student by another student at school, the plaintiffs sought judgment in accordance with the jury verdict and the school board resisted on the basis that the jury's narrative reasons identified policy and procedure provisions allegedly unsupported by the evidence.
The court held that a trial judge may disregard a civil jury verdict only where there is no evidence to support it or the answers cannot in law found judgment, and that jury answers must be read fairly and liberally.
Reading the verdict in context, there was some evidence of post-incident failures under the board's safety procedures and some evidence supporting causation and the damages awarded.
Judgment was therefore entered on the jury verdict, later increased by corrigendum to reflect a settled loss of income amount.
