Opinion ID: 2033184
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The National Treatment of Ross Regarding Derivative Suits

Text: It should be noted there was a strong dissent in Ross claiming the majority opinion was ill-conceived and biased in favor of more juries. Ross, 396 U.S. at 543-51, 90 S.Ct. at 740-45, 24 L.Ed.2d at 739-43 (Stewart, J., dissenting). Specifically, the dissent argued the Seventh Amendment only preserved the right to a jury trial to suits cognizable at common law. Id. at 543, 90 S.Ct. at 741, 24 L.Ed.2d at 739 (Stewart, J., dissenting). A shareholder's derivative suit does not exist under common law and is solely a case in equity regardless that legal issues are raised. [W]hen the Court said ... it is clear that the remedy of a stockholder seeking to enforce the rights of a corporationwhatever their natureis not in law but in equity, it was not because there were procedural impediments to a jury trial on legal issues. Rather, it was because the suit itself was conceived of as a wholly equitable cause of action. Id. at 547, 90 S.Ct. at 742, 24 L.Ed.2d at 741 (Stewart, J., dissenting) (quoting United Copper Sec. Co. v. Amalgamated Copper Co., 244 U.S. 261, 264, 37 S.Ct. 509, 510, 61 L.Ed. 1119, 1125 (1917)). Many states have taken the same approach and not afforded the right to a jury in derivative suits because of their equitable nature. See, e.g., Hames v. Cravens, 332 Ark. 437, 966 S.W.2d 244, 246-48 (1998); Rankin, 121 Cal.Rptr. at 358-59; Lanman Lithotech, Inc. v. Gurwitz, 478 So.2d 425, 426-27 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1985); see also Uselman, 464 N.W.2d at 137-38 (finding in Minnesota there is no right to a jury in any case in equity); Hashem v. Taheri, 82 Md.App. 269, 571 A.2d 837, 840 (1990) (holding that a plaintiff in equity was only entitled to a jury on the issue of standing). Alabama, New York, and Wyoming have parted with the trend and extended the right to a jury to legal issues raised in derivative suits. Finance, Inv. & Rediscount Co. v. Wells, 409 So.2d 1341, 1344 (Ala.1981); Rivero, 607 N.Y.S.2d at 282; Hyatt v. Hyatt, 769 P.2d 329, 333-34 (Wyo. 1989). For a detailed discussion of the national treatment of this issue, see Jean E. Maess, Annotation, Right to Jury Trial in Stockholder's Derivative Action, 32 A.L.R.4th 1111 (1984 & Supp.1999). The national trend appears to agree with the Ross dissent. Among the handful of states that allow a jury to hear legal issues stemming from equitable suits, many only provide advisory juries. See, e.g., Synacek v. Omaha Cold Storage Terminals, 247 Neb. 244, 526 N.W.2d 91, 94 (1995), overruled on other grounds by Billingsley v. BFM Liquor Mgmt., Inc., 259 Neb. 992, 613 N.W.2d 478 (2000); Bowers v. Westvaco Corp., 244 Va. 139, 419 S.E.2d 661, 666 (1992). Advisory juries are implicated where it is first recognized that the issues are not triable by jury as a matter of right. 27A Am.Jur.2d Equity § 236. The plaintiff is able to present his case to a jury, but the court is not bound by the jury's recommendation. We have never recognized the usefulness of this process, nor do we do so today.