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mistake has been committed.’” Anderson v. City of Bessemer,
N.C., 470 U.S. at 565. The Supreme Court embellished the
“clearly erroneous” standard of review as follows:
If the district court’s account of the evidence is
plausible in light of the record viewed in its
entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even
though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier
of fact, it would have weighed the evidence
differently. Where there are two permissible views of
the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them
cannot be clearly erroneous. United States v. Yellow
Cab Co., 338 U.S. 338, 342 (1949); see also Inwood
Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc., 456 U.S.
844 (1982).
This is so even when the district court’s findings
do not rest on credibility determinations, but are
based instead on physical or documentary evidence or
inferences from other facts. * * * [Id. at 573-574;
emphasis added.]
Although the phrase “manifestly unreasonable” does not
appear in the Anderson opinion, the Supreme Court did discuss the
“special deference” to be paid to a trial judge’s credibility
determinations. On this point, the Supreme Court stated:
When findings are based on determinations
regarding the credibility of witnesses, Rule 52(a)
demands even greater deference to the trial court’s
findings; for only the trial judge can be aware of the
variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so
heavily on the listener’s understanding of and belief
in what is said. See Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412,
(1985). This is not to suggest that the trial judge
may insulate his findings from review by denominating
them credibility determinations, for factors other than
demeanor and inflection go into the decision whether or
not to believe a witness. Documents or objective
evidence may contradict the witness’ story; or the
story itself may be so internally inconsistent or
implausible on its face that a reasonable factfinder
would not credit it. Where such factors are present,
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