Donna Angle v. Sky Chef, Inc., a Corporation, Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York, Intervenor-Appellee

Plaintiff, an airline stewardess, seriously injured her back when she fell while attempting to open a buffet door on an American Airlines flight. Plaintiff brought this suit against Sky Chef, Inc., Sky Gallies, Inc., and the Boeing Corporation. In a jury trial, judgment was entered in favor of all three defendants. Thereupon, plaintiff has appealed to this Court against all defendants, except Boeing.

Jurisdiction in the district court was based on diversity of citizenship of the parties, and that the amount in controversy exceeded $10,000. 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a). This Court has jurisdiction to determine the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

On appeal, plaintiff alleges three grounds for reversal: (1) that the district court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial upon the contention that the jury verdict was contrary to the clear weight of the evidence; (2) that the district court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion to amend the pretrial order to reinstate strict liability in tort as a cause of action against defendant Sky Gal-lies; (3) that prejudicial error was committed when the district court denied plaintiff’s motion…