Appeals court hears challenge to judge's grant of new trial in rear-end injury case

An Appeals Court panel convened in the Armstrong Courtroom on March 18, 2025, heard argument in 24P483, Tresch v. Hansen, a civil appeal that asks whether a trial judge erred by granting a new trial after a jury verdict in a rear-end collision case.

The issue on appeal, as framed by appellant counsel Jessica Savino, is whether the judge "impermissibly shifted the burden of proof onto the defendant" when granting a new trial; Savino asked the court to reverse because, she said, the plaintiffs retain the burden to prove injury and causation by a preponderance of the evidence. Appellee counsel Gregory Conley countered that the trial judge, Judge Wilkins, "was simply commenting on the state of the evidence" and that his view that no reasonable juror could find the absence of injury was a permissible…