Rule 50.Motions for a Directed Verdict and for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict

Rule 50(a) lets a party move for a directed verdict, typically at the close of an opponent's evidence, without giving up anything by making that move. If the motion is denied, the movant can still put on its own evidence exactly as if the motion had never been made, and moving for a directed verdict — even if every party in the case does it — is not treated as a waiver of the right to a jury trial. The motion has to state its specific grounds; a bare assertion that the evidence does not support the other side's case will not do. If the court grants the motion, its order takes effect on its own, with no need for any jury assent.

Rule 50(b) picks up after the verdict comes in. A party has ten days after entry of judgment on the verdict to move to set aside both the verdict and the judgment — the motion Mississippi calls a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or JNOV. If the jury never returned a verdict at all, the same ten-day clock instead runs from when the jury was discharged, and the court can either direct entry of judgment or order a new trial. Notably, Mississippi does not require a party to have moved for a directed verdict during trial before moving for JNOV afterward — that prerequisite, which still exists in some other rule sets, was removed from Mississippi's rule in 1994. The ten-day deadline itself, by contrast, is strict; a trial court has no authority to extend it.

Rule 50(c) addresses what happens when a JNOV motion succeeds. The court must also rule, conditionally, on any pending motion for a new trial — deciding whether a new trial should be granted if the JNOV judgment is later vacated or reversed on appeal, and stating the grounds either way. That conditional ruling does not affect the finality of the judgment for purposes of appeal. If the judgment is reversed and a new trial was conditionally granted, the new trial goes forward unless the appellate court orders otherwise; if a new trial was conditionally denied, the party who would have benefited from it can challenge that denial on appeal. Separately, the party whose verdict was set aside by JNOV can still move for a new trial under Rule 59, again within ten days of the JNOV judgment.

Rule 50(d) covers the reverse situation, where the trial court denies a JNOV motion. The party who won that round can, as appellee, still argue for a new trial in case the appellate court concludes the trial court should have granted JNOV. A reversal on appeal does not foreclose a new trial — the appellate court can order one directly or send the question back to the trial court to decide. Rule 50 applies only where a jury had the power to return a binding verdict; in a case tried to the court without a jury, the comparable relief comes through a motion under Rule 59(e), not through Rule 50.