§50.5 Purpose and Procedure

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§50.5PURPOSE AND PROCEDURE

The purpose of CR 50 is to codify the court's duty to decide legal issues when there is no reasonable basis on which the jury could find in favor of a particular party on a specific issue. The original intent of the rule was to save the time and trouble involved in lengthy jury determinations and to work out historical procedural complexities and ambiguities regarding the sufficiency of evidence. See 9B Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure §2521 (3d ed. 2008).

Under CR 50(a)(1), a motion for judgment as a matter of law must state the specific grounds on which it is based. It is critical to move for judgment as a matter of law before the case is submitted to the jury. Hanks v....