Opinion ID: 538896
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Multiple Theories and a General Verdict

Text: 106 Materializing from the other of Ada Kern's allegations is a single explanation for Levolor's supposed misconduct--age discrimination: 107 Levolor was unfair to Ms. Kern just by its acts alone. But also, it didn't follow its own policy regarding layoff, regarding recall, regarding the benefits of seniority. It did none of those things. They followed nothing that they had given her as an assurance, as a promise that she could depend on. 108 Plaintiff believes that her age may have been the reason. There's no other reason. There's absolutely no other reason she shouldn't have been back. 109 Plaintiff's Closing Argument, RT 7/29 at 148 (emphasis added). Ada Kern brought claims of breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and age discrimination; but her only coherent theory of Levolor's actions was that the company deliberately discharged her and refused to bring her back because it thought she was too old. 110 The district court apparently saw Ada Kern's case the same way: 111 Mr. Brown [Levolor's attorney]: Your Honor, she has three counts in here and that of course means more instructions. That's one of the problems. 112 The Court: Three counts? You're down to the one count, breach of contract or breach of implied warranty, and what's the third one? 113 Ms. MacMillin [Ada Kern's attorney]: Age discrimination. 114 The Court: Age discrimination. But they're all the same. That's all the same ball of wax in federal court. I can join them all together if I want to. We have quite a bit of power over here that you may not have in the state. I told the jury: Breach of contract or breach of implied warranty because of age discrimination. They figured she was too old. So they terminated her. 115 The question is: Did you do so correctly? 116 RT 7/27 at 121. Ada Kern confirmed this view: 117 The Court: ... That's essentially the charges; isn't it? That you were laid off or you were terminated because you were too old in violation of the contract and good faith and fair dealing? 118 The Witness [Ada Kern]: I can't think of any other reason. 119 RT 7/27 at 98. 120 Even the majority agrees that there was insufficient evidence to go to the jury on Ada Kern's age discrimination claim, majority op. at 777, yet the jury returned a general verdict in her favor. Of course, the jury may not have based its verdict on a finding of age discrimination. After all, they might have ignored statements by the plaintiff, the plaintiff's attorney and the judge that clearly went to the heart of the case. We don't know what the jury did; and that is precisely why the general verdict in this case cannot stand. 121 More than a century ago, the Supreme Court explained that, because we cannot read the minds of jurors, a general verdict that may have been based on an improper theory of liability must be reversed. [The verdict's] generality prevents us from perceiving upon which plea they found. If, therefore, upon any one issue error was committed, either in the admission of evidence, or in the charge of the court, the verdict cannot be upheld.... Maryland v. Baldwin, 112 U.S. 490, 493, 5 S.Ct. 278, 280, 28 L.Ed. 822 (1884). The Court has three times reiterated the rule in unequivocal terms. Wilmington Star Mining Co. v. Fulton, 205 U.S. 60, 79, 27 S.Ct. 412, 419, 51 L.Ed. 708 (1907); United New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Association v. Halecki, 358 U.S. 613, 619, 79 S.Ct. 517, 520, 3 L.Ed.2d 541 (1959); Sunkist Growers, Inc. v. Winckler & Smith Citrus Products Co., 370 U.S. 19, 29-30, 82 S.Ct. 1130, 1135-36, 8 L.Ed.2d 305 (1962). The wisdom of this rule is beyond cavil. As one commentator said of the general verdict: No one but the jurors can tell what was put into it and the jurors will not be heard to say. The general verdict is as inscrutable and essentially mysterious as the judgment which issued from the ancient oracle of Delphi. Edson R. Sunderland, Verdicts, General and Special, 29 Yale L.J. 253, 258 (1920). See also James Wm. Moore & Jo Desha Lucas, 5A Moore's Federal Practice p 49.02 (Matthew Bender, 2d ed. 1989). 122 When the Supreme Court speaks consistently and repeatedly on an issue, the inferior federal courts are bound to follow suit. Most have. See Morrissey v. National Maritime Union of America, 544 F.2d 19, 26-27 (2d Cir.1976); Avins v. White, 627 F.2d 637, 646 (3d Cir.1980); Ely v. Blevins, 706 F.2d 479, 480 (4th Cir.1983); Jones v. Miles, 656 F.2d 103, 108 (5th Cir.1981); Dudley v. Dittmer, 795 F.2d 669, 673-74 (8th Cir.1986); Farrell v. Klein Tools, Inc., 866 F.2d 1294, 1299-1300 (10th Cir.1989) (also reviewing the rule in other circuits); North American Graphite Corp. v. Allan, 184 F.2d 387, 389 (D.C.Cir.1950). The Third, Eighth and Tenth Circuits discuss a harmless error exception, see, for example, Simko v. C & C Marine Maintenance Co., 594 F.2d 960, 967 (3d Cir.1979); E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Berkley & Co., 620 F.2d 1247, 1258 n. 8 (8th Cir.1980); Asbill v. Housing Authority of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, 726 F.2d 1499, 1504 (10th Cir.1984), but none has actually found harmless error. 123 The First Circuit has created a narrow harmless error rule for cases where the elements required to establish one theory of liability are a subset of the elements necessary to establish another theory. In Brochu v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp., 642 F.2d 652 (1st Cir.1981), plaintiffs brought claims of strict product liability and fraudulent misrepresentation. Liability for fraudulent misrepresentation required proof of all of the elements of strict product liability, plus proof of knowingly false statements. Since there was sufficient evidence to support a verdict for plaintiffs on strict product liability, it was irrelevant whether there was evidence of knowing falsehood. The court upheld the general verdict because the jury could not have found for plaintiffs on the fraud claim without also finding strict liability, hence the error was harmless. Id. at 662. Brochu involved a very rare situation and, in the few cases where it applies, the Brochu rule is fully consistent with Baldwin. 124 The Seventh Circuit, for reasons of its own, has adopted a maverick rule precisely the opposite of that repeatedly announced by the Supreme Court. In order to win on appeal in the Seventh Circuit, the defendant must show that none of the plaintiff's theories will support the general verdict. McGrath v. Zenith Radio Corp., 651 F.2d 458, 464 (7th Cir.1981). See also Cross v. Ryan, 124 F.2d 883, 887 (7th Cir.1941) (if there is substantial evidence to sustain any one count in favor of each plaintiff, the general verdict must be upheld). For reasons explained in Baldwin, this rule makes no sense at all, never mind that it contravenes Supreme Court authority. 125 In this circuit, we state the general rule as follows: [A] general jury verdict will be upheld only if there is substantial evidence to support each and every theory of liability submitted to the jury. Syufy Enterprises v. American Multicinema, Inc., 793 F.2d 990, 1001 (9th Cir.1986). Accord, Brocklesby v. United States, 767 F.2d 1288, 1294 (9th Cir.1985). 126 This absolute prohibition came to a test in Traver v. Meshriy, 627 F.2d 934 (9th Cir.1980), a case very similar to Brochu. Traver brought several state tort claims against a bank and its employees, as well as a 42 USC Sec. 1983 claim against the bank. The jury returned a general verdict in Traver's favor. On appeal, there was a question as to whether Traver had presented sufficient evidence under federal law to tie the bank to its employees' actions. There was, however, sufficient evidence to hold both the bank and its employees liable on the state claims. The court held that it was unnecessary to reach the question of the bank's liability under section 1983 because the general verdict could be upheld on the state law theory. Id. at 938. The elements necessary to prove the section 1983 claim contained all the elements of the state law claims. The jury, therefore, could not have found the bank liable under section 1983 without also finding state law liability. See id. at 939. 127 The Traver court could have reached its conclusion by explaining that the error was harmless, following the rationale of Brochu. Instead, Traver described its actions in terms of discretion, and identified four factors relevant to its exercise in these circumstances: (1) the potential for confusion of the jury that may have resulted from an erroneous submission of a particular claim; (2) whether the defenses of the losing party apply to the count upon which the verdict is being sustained; (3) the strength of the evidence supporting the count being relied upon to sustain the verdict; and (4) the extent to which the same disputed issues of fact apply to one or more of the theories in question. Traver, 627 F.2d at 938-39. 128 As is often the case when courts allow themselves discretion to avoid absolute principles, the exceptions have now submerged the rule. In Roberts v. College of the Desert, 870 F.2d 1411, 1417 (9th Cir.1988), plaintiff brought a due process claim, alleging that she had been deprived of her job without a fair hearing. She also brought an equal protection claim, alleging sex discrimination. Our court declined to rule on whether there was sufficient evidence to go to the jury on the equal protection claim. We explained that, in any event, we could exercise discretion under Traver and uphold the general verdict for plaintiff on due process grounds. Roberts, 870 F.2d at 1417. The Roberts court could not possibly have known if the verdict was based on due process, equal protection, or both. Yet the opinion did not cite Baldwin, Sunkist Growers, or any of the other cases standing for the general rule; it simply relied on Traver without doing the analysis. 129 Next, Benigni v. City of Hemet, 879 F.2d 473 (9th Cir.1988), cited Traver for the proposition that the court had discretion to allow a general verdict to stand, without explaining the limited nature of that discretion. We then upheld a general verdict based on due process and equal protection claims, although there may have been insufficient evidence to support the equal protection theory. Id. at 477-78. 130 Culminating this circuit's erosion of a perfectly good rule, the majority finds this an appropriate case for the exercise of discretion; I can't imagine many that could be worse. The majority finds little potential for confusion because the contract and age discrimination claims were so closely related. Majority op. at 777. But this is precisely why there was so much potential for confusion. The age discrimination and contract claims were intimately bound together; at least that was the view of Ada Kern, her attorney and the trial judge. Yet there was no evidence of age discrimination. Had the age discrimination claim been taken away, the jury would have been left with only Levolor's explanation for the discharge. When the evidence will not support the plaintiff's only theory of liability; the verdict cannot stand. The error is compounded where, as here, there is insufficient evidence to go to the jury on any aspect of the plaintiff's case. 131 While sufficiently interrelated to confuse the jury, Ada Kern's claims were, in a different sense, independent enough that a jury verdict on one claim does not presuppose a verdict on the other. In Traver, the jury could not have found section 1983 liability without also finding state tort liability. That is not the case here. It is possible that the jury found that the only way in which Levolor harmed Ada Kern was by discharging her because of her age. That is, in the absence of age discrimination, the jury might have found that Levolor did everything else it was obliged to do or, indeed, that Levolor had no other obligations to Kern. 132 The majority contends that, in order to find age discrimination, the jury necessarily must have rejected Levolor's assertions that Kern was treated in accordance with company policies and that she was discharged for legitimate business reasons. Majority op. at 777. True enough, but rejection of these defenses is not by itself sufficient to prove liability on the breach of contract and good faith claims; to render a verdict for plaintiff on these claims the jury also had to find that Levolor had some contractual obligation to Ada Kern. See Otworth, 166 Cal.App.3d at 458, 212 Cal.Rptr. 743. Age discrimination, on the other hand, is a statutory claim (see Cal.Government Code Sec. 12941(a) (West 1989)); Levolor had a duty to Kern not to discharge her because of her age independent of any contractual agreement between them. To establish a prima facie case of age discrimination, Ada Kern had to show only that (1) she was a member of the protected class (i.e., over 40 years old), (2) she was performing her job satisfactorily, and (3) there was a causal connection between her protected status and her discharge. See Levy v. Regents of the University of California, 199 Cal.App.3d 1334, 1348, 245 Cal.Rptr. 576 (1988); Douglas v. Anderson, 656 F.2d 528, 531 (9th Cir.1981). Thus, the jury did not have to find a contractual obligation in order to hold Levolor liable on the age discrimination claim. 133 The Baldwin rule exists precisely to deal with the kind of uncertainties this case presents; fine tuning is unnecessary when the facts and law coincide.