Opinion ID: 70662
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The trial court's treatment of the jury verdicts

Text: 16 Goodgame and Brown contend that the trial court erred by treating the jury as advisory under Fed.R.Civ.P. 39(c). 6 Rule 39(c), they assert, does not apply to their § 1981 claims at all, since they had a right to a jury trial with regard to those claims irrespective of whether the 1991 Act applied. Goodgame and Brown argue that the trial court should have allowed a properly instructed jury to reexamine their § 1981 claims. 7 17 We review the trial court's application of Rule 39(c) de novo. Burns v. Lawther, 53 F.3d 1237, 1240 (11th Cir.1995). Our scrutiny is most exacting where, as here, an appellant's right to a jury trial is implicated. City of Morgantown v. Royal Ins. Co., 337 U.S. 254, 258, 69 S.Ct. 1067, 1069-70, 93 L.Ed. 1347 (1949); Burns, 53 F.3d at 1240; see also Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500, 508, 79 S.Ct. 948, 955, 3 L.Ed.2d 988 (1959) (stating that where related legal and equitable claims are brought in same proceeding, jury must be allowed to decide legal claims first; then court can fashion equitable relief consistent with jury's findings). 18 We agree with Goodgame and Brown that Rule 39(c) plainly does not apply to claims, like their § 1981 claims, that are triable by jury as a matter of right. See Lincoln v. Board of Regents, 697 F.2d 928, 934 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 826, 104 S.Ct. 97, 78 L.Ed.2d 102 (1983). It is axiomatic in such cases that a trial court cannot disregard a jury's verdict and substitute its own findings in deciding claims; otherwise, the court could effectively subsume the jury's function and deprive litigants of their right to trial by jury. Cf. Beacon Theatres, 359 U.S. at 506-10, 79 S.Ct. at 954-56 (discussing the principle that use of discretion by a court to let equitable claims precede legal ones, possibly infringing the right to jury trial, requires at least the danger of irreparable harm or inadequacy of legal remedies). When an advisory jury is empaneled under Rule 39(c), [i]ts findings of fact are not binding on the trial court. Wilson v. City of Aliceville, 779 F.2d 631, 635-36 (11th Cir.1986). Just the opposite must be true when a jury is demanded as a matter of right by a party. 19 The trial court, in an attempt to salvage the jury's verdicts, set them aside, stated that it would treat the jury as advisory, and asked the parties to submit proposed findings of fact consistent with the jury's findings. (R. 2 at 45.) This course of action was insufficient to protect Goodgame and Brown's right to a jury trial on their § 1981 claims. 8 20 Goodgame and Brown contend that the court should have granted them a new trial and allowed a properly instructed jury to decide if the promotions at issue involved new and distinct relationships instead of granting ACIPCO judgment as a matter of law based on its finding that Goodgame and Brown had waited too late to raise claims under old § 1981. (R. 2-57 at 4.) ACIPCO counters that the trial court acted within its discretion when it denied Goodgame and Brown's attempt to reassert their pre-1991 Act claims after the court set aside the jury's verdicts. ACIPCO argues that Goodgame and Brown should be bound by their decision to proceed under the new act. 21 We review a trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial for an abuse of discretion. Verbraeken v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 881 F.2d 1041, 1049 (11th Cir.1989). In this case, the trial court realized that the jury had been misinstructed and took remedial action. The issue is whether the trial court acted properly in repairing the damage caused by the erroneous instructions. 22 We disagree with the trial court's conclusion that, because Goodgame and Brown waited until after the trial to assert the issue, they had no right to have a jury consider whether the disputed promotions rose to the level of an opportunity for a new and distinct relation between the employee and the employer. Patterson, 491 U.S. at 185, 109 S.Ct. at 2377. Goodgame and Brown should not have been expected to tailor their § 1981 claims to be consistent with both pre-1991 law and the 1991 Act once the trial court held that the 1991 Act applied to their claims and allowed them to amend their complaint accordingly. The existence of a new and distinct relationship as required by Patterson was the only element of Goodgame's and Brown's causes of action omitted from the instructions the jury received. Since a properly instructed jury arguably could find for Goodgame and Brown, the proper remedy in this case was a new trial, not judgment as a matter of law for ACIPCO. 9 A new trial is the remedy this court generally orders when it reverses based on incorrect jury instructions. See Bank South Leasing, Inc. v. Williams, 778 F.2d 704, 707 (11th Cir.1985) (remanding for new trial where evidence existed in support of different result given a properly-instructed jury); Johnson v. Bryant, 671 F.2d 1276, 1280 (11th Cir.1982) (stating that reversal is warranted where we are left with a substantial and ineradicable doubt as to whether the jury was properly guided in its deliberations) (citation omitted); but see Mojica v. Gannett Co., 7 F.3d 552, 560 (7th Cir.1993) (declining to remand for new trial under proper version of § 1981 where plaintiff presented no evidence during trial that promotion to different time slot would have involved new and distinct relations with employer), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1643, 128 L.Ed.2d 363 (1994). 23 We conclude that the trial court's denial of Goodgame and Brown's request for a new trial as to two of the plaintiffs' § 1981 claims was an abuse of discretion. 10 We therefore reverse and remand for a new trial on Goodgame's § 1981 claim and Brown's § 1981 claim based on the December 1989 Short promotion.