Sartin v. GT Payroll Systems

09-3832-cv Sartin v. GT Payroll Systems UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER R ULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT . C ITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER J ANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY F EDERAL R ULE OF A PPELLATE P ROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT ’ S L OCAL R ULE 32.1.1. W HEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT , A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE F EDERAL A PPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE ( WITH THE NOTATION “ SUMMARY ORDER ”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL . 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the 15 th day of December, two thousand and ten. 5 6 PRESENT: WILFRED FEINBERG, 7 BARRINGTON D. PARKER, 8 RICHARD C. WESLEY, 9 Circuit Judges. 10 11 12 13 WALTER SARTIN, 14 15 Plaintiff-Appellant, 16 17 -v.- 09-3832-cv 18 19 GT PAYROLL SYSTEMS, DIVERSITY SERVICES/DIVERSITY STAFFING, 20 STACEY STROTHER, INDIVIDUALLY, 21 22 Defendants-Appellees. * 23 24 25 FOR APPELLANT: AMBROSE WOTORSON, Law Office of Ambrose 26 Wotorson, Brooklyn, NY. 27 28 FOR APPELLEES: GAIL I. AUSTER, Law Offices of Gail I. 29 Auster & Associates, PC, Scarsdale, NY. 30 * The Clerk of the Court is directed to amend the official caption in accordance with this order. 1 Appeal from the Southern District of New York 2 (Hellerstein, J.). 3 4 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED 5 AND DECREED that the verdict, ruling and order of the 6 district court be AFFIRMED. 7 Appellant appeals from a jury verdict in favor of 8 defendants, the court’s denial of Appellant’s application to 9 amend his witness list on the eve of trial, and the court’s 10 post-verdict denial of his motion for a new trial. We 11 assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, 12 the procedural history, and the issues presented for review. 13 One day before trial Appellant sought to amend his 14 witness list to include Donna Chatman (“Chatman”), his 15 alleged harasser. The court denied this application. 16 Appellant argues that this refusal worked a manifest 17 injustice against him. Appellant also objects to the 18 district court’s uncalled-witness charge that allowed the 19 jury to draw inferences for or against either party as a 20 result of Chatman’s failure to testify. 21 “A motion for relief from judgment is generally not 22 favored and is properly granted only upon a showing of 23 exceptional circumstances.” United States v. Int’l Bhd. of 24 Teamsters, 247 F.3d 370, 391 (2d Cir. 2001) (citations 2 1 omitted). “Appellate review of a decision to grant or deny 2 relief . . . is restricted to determining whether the trial 3 court abused its discretion.” Kotlicky v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. 4 Co., 817 F.2d 6, 8 (2d Cir. 1987) (citations omitted). 5 On the facts of this case the district court did not 6 abuse its discretion, either in denying Appellant’s request 7 to amend his witness list, or in denying Appellant’s 8 subsequent motion for a new trial. 9 “A jury instruction is erroneous if it misleads the 10 jury as to the correct legal standard or does not adequately 11 inform the jury on the law.” United States v. Wilkerson, 12 361 F.3d 717, 732 (2d Cir. 2004) (quoting United States v. 13 Walsh, 194 F.3d 37, 52 (2d Cir. 1999)). Here, the district 14 court neither misled nor misinformed the jury by instructing 15 that it was free to draw favorable or unfavorable inferences 16 for or against either party from Chatman’s absence from the 17 stand. The jury instruction was not erroneous. 18 For the foregoing reasons, the verdict, ruling and 19 order of the district court are hereby AFFIRMED. 20 21 FOR THE COURT: 22 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 23 3