§ 25-1142.New trial, defined; grounds.

A new trial is not an appeal. It is a reexamination, in the same court, of an issue of fact after a jury verdict, a referee’s report, or a decision the court reached itself. Section 25-1142 defines the concept this way and then lists the only grounds the Legislature has authorized for setting aside that earlier verdict, report, or decision — grounds that must materially affect the substantial rights of the party asking for relief.

The eight grounds fall into a few groups. Some concern process problems: irregularity in the proceedings of the court, jury, referee, or the prevailing party, or an abuse of discretion that kept a party from getting a fair trial; and misconduct of the jury or the prevailing party. Others concern surprise or newly discovered facts: accident or surprise ordinary prudence could not have guarded against, and newly discovered evidence the moving party could not, with reasonable diligence, have found and produced at trial. A third group targets the outcome itself: excessive damages given under passion or prejudice, an error in assessing the amount of recovery — too large or too small — in a contract or property-injury action, and a verdict, report, or decision not backed by sufficient evidence or contrary to law. The last ground covers a legal error at trial that the party excepted to.

Because § 25-1139 makes exceptions automatic for rulings that are material and prejudicial, a party generally does not need to have formally voiced an exception at trial to raise the eighth ground later in a new trial motion — the exception is already deemed taken. The grounds tied to misconduct, accident or surprise, and newly discovered evidence carry an extra requirement under § 25-1144: they must be backed by affidavits.