Texas Court Orders Trial Court to Specify Reasons for Granting New Trial

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Supreme Court has conditionally granted a petition for writ of mandamus to an asbestos defendant, ruling that a trial court should have detailed its reasoning behind granting a plaintiff motion for a new trial. In re: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., No. 08-0625 (Texas Sup. Ct.).

In an opinion released July 3, the high court cited another opinion issued the same day in which it ruled that "a trial court acted arbitrarily and abused its discretion by not specifically and in a reasonable manner setting out the reasons it disregarded a jury verdict …