Opinion ID: 473028
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Court Instructions on State Law

Text: 27 In diversity actions, federal court jury instructions must accurately describe the applicable state substantive law. See, e.g., Bass v. International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, 630 F.2d 1058, 1061 (5th Cir.1980); Kramer v. Keys, 643 F.2d 382, 384 (5th Cir.1981); Chemetron Corp. v. Business Funds, Inc., 682 F.2d 1149, 1178 (5th Cir.1982), vacated and remanded for further consideration on other grounds, 460 U.S. 1007, 103 S.Ct. 1245, 75 L.Ed.2d 476, cert. denied sub nom. Bintliff v. Chemetron Corp., 460 U.S. 1013, 103 S.Ct. 1254, 75 L.Ed.2d 483 (1983), initial opinion adhered to on remand, 718 F.2d 725 (5th Cir.1983), rehearing en banc ordered, id. at 730. Once this obligation is met, a federal judge has discretion in how he decides to present the case to the jury, see, e.g., Bass, 630 F.2d at 1061; Smith v. Borg-Warner Corp., 626 F.2d 384 (5th Cir.1980); Coughlin v. Capital Cement Co., 571 F.2d 290, 300 (5th Cir.1978), for the form or manner of instructions is controlled by federal, not state, law, see Martin, 726 F.2d at 216. Having found the sole cause instruction by the district judge substantively correct, we decline to find error in his not precisely following the Texas practice governing the form or manner of submitting this kind of case to the jury. 3 28 Appellants assert that the district court erred by, in effect, submitting an inferential rebuttal as the controlling issue in the case. An inferential rebuttal is defined as an issue that seeks to disprove or negate an element of the plaintiff's prima facie case. See, e.g., Scott v. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Co., 572 S.W.2d 273, 279 (Tex.1978); American Jet, Inc. v. Leyendecker, 683 S.W.2d 121, 126 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1984, no writ); Transport Ins. Co. v. Liggins, 625 S.W.2d 780, 784 (Tex.App.--Ft. Worth 1981, writ ref'd n.r.e.). When a defendant asserts sole cause as a defense, he attacks causation, an element of the negligence and strict products liability causes of action. Thus sole cause is labeled an inferential rebuttal. See Sales, supra p 3.04, at 258 n. 212 and accompanying text. 29 In Texas, inferential rebuttal contentions are not to be presented to the jury in the form of separate special issues, but at the most as explanatory instructions. See, e.g., Lemos v. Montez, 680 S.W.2d 798, 800 (Tex.1984); Scott, 572 S.W.2d at 279. In Gonzales v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 511 F.2d 629, 632 (5th Cir.1975), we as a matter of federal procedure have also discouraged the submission of inferential rebuttals as a separate interrogatory, for we held that sole cause should not be submitted as an interrogatory if the jury's answer to it might conflict with its answer to another interrogatory. Id. 4 We note that here sole cause was presented as an instruction, not a special interrogatory. Since there was no possibility of conflicting answers to the interrogatories, our concern in Gonzales is not implicated. Even if a sole cause interrogatory had been utilized, we have held that special interrogatories a Federal District Judge ... submits need not be identical to those a Texas Judge must submit ... [because] [s]pecial ... matters of federal procedure are not governed by state rules. Gonzales, 511 F.2d at 632. Whether an instruction or a special interrogatory is employed is a matter of charging procedure governed by federal law, and we afford our district courts latitude in presenting state law as long as that presentation is substantively correct. Martin, 627 F.2d at 216. 30 Appellants place special reliance on Lewis v. Rego, 757 F.2d 66, 71 (3d Cir.1985), where reversal was required because the district court incorrectly charged the jury on misuse. However, the error in the charge there consisted of a misstatement of substantive law, as the jury was in effect told that any causative misuse would negate liability, while under the applicable substantive law of Pennsylvania misuse would have that effect only if it were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. The case was apparently submitted on a general verdict, without special interrogatories, and it therefore could not be ascertained whether the verdict for the defendant was based on a finding of reasonably foreseeable misuse, contrary to the substantive law of Pennsylvania. 31 We believe that the true nature of appellants' complaint is that the challenged charge amounted to an improper comment on the weight of the evidence, or an overemphasizing of one party's contentions. This seems to be the real basis of the decisions in cases such as Roper. As previously noted, Roper condemned a sole cause instruction stating that it placed undue emphasis on that contention and singled out and highlighted it, but observes that no party questions the correctness of the instruction there at issue. Roper relied primarily on Acord, and Acord condemned additional instructions, beyond those provided in the Pattern Jury Charges, however correctly they may state the law. 669 S.W.2d at 116. Acord stated that such an additional instruction amounted to a comment on the weight of the evidence, and that it was wrong to single out a particular defensive theory. Id. Roper characterizes Acord as condemning additional instructions which single out as being improper comments, and states that the Roper instruction was surplusage of the type against which we warned in Acord. 686 S.W.2d at 604. We cannot read Roper as being other than a condemnation of charge because it is a comment on the evidence. See also, e.g., McElroy v. Stocker, 505 S.W.2d 615, 618-19 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1974, no writ) (condemning unavoidable accident instruction as a comment on the weight of the evidence and because it gives undue emphasis to the question of unavoidable accident). 5 32 However, the rule in federal courts, whether in diversity cases or otherwise, is that the judge has the power, denied many state judges, to comment on the evidence and the power, if he chooses, to summarize the evidence and comment in a proper way on the facts and the evidence if he is careful to make it plain to the jury that they are the sole finder of the facts. Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil Sec. 2557 at 664-65 (footnote omitted). Federal trial courts have a proper discretion in summarizing and commenting upon the evidence. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1292. In the manner and method of instructing the jury, federal courts follow their own rules, regardless of state practice and legislation.... If a state-created right is to be enforced, of course the state law must be looked to for the substance of the instructions, but the form of instructions ... are procedural questions on which the federal court is not bound by state concepts. Wright & Miller, Sec. 2555 at 651 (footnotes omitted). Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. [A]bstract charges are not in much favor with the courts.... The courts have shown a distinct preference, particularly in complex cases, for instructions that relate the law to the evidence. Wright & Miller, Sec. 2556 at 659-60. The actual form of the trial court's instructions on a party's theory is within the trial court's discretion. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. A district judge has wide discretion to select his own words and to charge in his own style, ... which includes the use of illustrations to clarify an instruction. Sandidge v. Salen Offshore Drilling Co., 764 F.2d 252, 262 (5th Cir.1985). See also Martin, 726 F.2d at 215. Explanatory comments are prejudicial only if the trial court does not make it clear that the jury is the sole judge of the facts. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1292. 33 Under these standards, we perceive no error or abuse of discretion in this aspect of the charge. There was no prejudicially unfair emphasis on sole cause--the complained of language is less than two pages in a charge of over thirty pages. The charge as a whole was not unbalanced or one-sided. That the charge spoke of the specifics which Phillips contended amounted to sole cause is not ground for complaint, as there is no requirement that the charge be abstract. It was made clear to the jury that there could be more than one legal cause of an event. The jury was clearly told that they were the exclusive judge of the facts. There was nothing coercive about the charge, and nothing to indicate to the jury that the judge believed that any acts or omissions of Crown Central were in fact the sole cause of the fire. 34 Appellants point to the language in the instruction that if the jury found Crown Central's acts or omissions were the sole cause of the fire, your verdict should be for the defendant. While this told the jury the legal effect of a sole cause determination on their part, that does not render the instruction erroneous. Federal judges are free to tell the juries the effects of their answers. See, e.g., Martin, 726 F.2d at 216 (Unlike the Texas courts, federal courts are free to tell juries the effect of their answers.); Perricone v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co., 704 F.2d 1376, 1378 (5th Cir.1983) (it is proper to inform the jury of the effect of their answers to interrogatories); Porche v. Gulf Mississippi Marine Corp., 390 F.Supp. 624, 632 (E.D.La.1975) (jury may be told the effect its decision will have). Thus, we hold that here, as in Martin, instructions are a matter of discretion for the trial court and the decision to give [this] instruction[] was not an abuse of discretion. 726 F.2d at 216. 35 Finally, we think any possible error was harmless. While the reference to a verdict for defendant, if Crown Central's acts or omissions were determined to be the sole cause, was inexact, since there was no verdict form allowing a verdict for either party as such, it was clear from the charge that the sole cause claim related to the question of cause. That was the subject matter of the instruction in question. In reviewing the charge, we ignore technical imperfections. Pierce v. Ramsey Winch Co., 753 F.2d 416, 425 (5th Cir.1985). An ambiguous phrase or inaccurate clause does not necessarily destroy an entire instruction. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. Nor do we see any prejudice, for the instruction, as we have seen, was substantively correct. Even if it had not been, the jury never reached the cause interrogatories. See Rehler, 777 F.2d at 1088. We think it unrealistic to conclude that there is any likelihood or substantial possibility that the jury's answers to the negligence, product dangerousness, and breach of warranty interrogatories were influenced by the instruction on sole cause, when the charge as a whole, and verdict form, which the charge went over and explained interrogatory by interrogatory, clearly showed that such interrogatories did not inquire about cause and that cause was inquired about in separate interrogatories. 36 Accordingly, we reject appellants' argument based on the sole cause instruction.