Bank of America National Trust & Savings Ass'n v. Superior Court

This action arises out of long-standing litigation between the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association (Bank) and real parties in interest Irene O’Connell Kruse, George M. Jewell and Laura E. Jewell, and George R. Jewell (collectively Jewells), apple growers/brokers and processors in Sonoma County. In Kruse v. Bank of America (1988) 202 Cal.App.3d 38 , Division One of this court reversed a jury verdict in favor of real parties for insufficiency of the evidence. When the trial court denied the Bank’s subsequent request for entry of judgment and granted real parties’ motions for leave to amend their complaints to add additional causes of action, the Bank petitioned this court for a writ of mandate, prohibition or other appropriate relief. We issued an order to show cause why a peremptory writ of mandate should not issue and now grant the petition.

The question presented is this: After an unqualified reversal based on insufficiency of the evidence, should judgment be entered for the prevailing party or may the case be retried?

Statement of the Case

Kruse filed the original complaint in this action on November 25, 1980, against the Bank and the Jewells. The…