Opinion ID: 516511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the plain error doctrine

Text: 20 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 51 [n]o party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless that party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter objected to and the grounds of the objection. There is, however, a judicially created exception to Rule 51, the plain error doctrine. In United States v. 564.54 Acres of Land, 576 F.2d 983 (3d Cir.1978), rev'd on other grounds, 441 U.S. 506, 99 S.Ct. 1854, 60 L.Ed.2d 435 (1979), we explained that: 21 [W]e have the discretion to review instructions sua sponte if the error is fundamental and highly prejudicial or if the instructions are such that the jury is without adequate guidance on a fundamental question and our failure to consider the error would result in a miscarriage of justice. 22 Id. at 987; see also 5A Moore's Federal Practice p 51.04 (1988) (Application of plain error doctrine appropriate when reversal is required to prevent a miscarriage of justice.). Even though the jury below sat as if trial by jury were as a matter of right and even though PCIP did not object to the jury instructions when they were given, the award of damages may still be reduced if the district court gave jury instructions so fundamentally erroneous that the verdict requires correction under the plain error doctrine. 23 The plain error that the district court recognized in its own jury instructions and sought to remedy by treating the jury as advisory was the failure to instruct the jury that only two years of back pay damages are allowable under Title VII. Under the court's instructions, the jury award could have reflected, for example, seven years of back pay damages when, according to the court, only two years of back pay damages were available. Bereda maintains on appeal that the Title VII restriction on back pay damages is not a cap but a statute of limitations, which was waived when PCIP failed to raise it at trial. Bereda asserts that she is also entitled to the jury's full $55,000 award of damages under the Equal Pay Act and the PHRA. 24 Title VII includes the provision that [b]ack pay liability shall not accrue from a date more than two years prior to the filing of a charge with the Commission. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(g). This constitutes a limit on liability, not a statute of limitations, and has been interpreted as a cap on the amount of back pay that may be awarded under Title VII. See Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 410 n. 3, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2368 n. 3, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975); Laffey v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 740 F.2d 1071, 1094 (D.C.Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1181, 105 S.Ct. 939, 83 L.Ed.2d 951 (1985); Patterson v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., 659 F.2d 736, 740 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1100, 102 S.Ct. 674, 70 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981). The PHRA provides that [b]ack pay liability shall not accrue from a date more than three years prior to the filing of a complaint charging violations of this act. Pa.Stat.Ann. tit. 43, Sec. 962(c). This passage closely follows the wording of the cap on back pay imposed under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(g), except that PHRA caps back pay at three years while Title VII allows only two years of back pay. 25 Bereda has no legal right to more than two years back pay under Title VII or more than three years back pay under PHRA. In our view, it would be a fundamental error and a miscarriage of justice for this court to hold PCIP liable under Title VII or PHRA for more than the statutory caps provided for by these statutes. Although the district court erroneously applied Title VII's two-year cap (rather than PHRA's three-year cap) in its attempt to cure its error, we agree with the district court that it was plain error for it to omit the cap on PCIP's back pay liability in its jury instructions. See Philadelphia & Reading Railway v. Marland, 239 F. 1, 11, 16 (3d Cir.1917) (Despite defendant's failure to object to jury instructions, plain error doctrine mandates reversal of damage award including funeral expenses and loss of companionship because neither of these items were recoverable under the Federal Employers' Liability Act.), cert. denied, 245 U.S. 671, 38 S.Ct. 191, 62 L.Ed. 540 (1918). 26 The district court should have instructed the jury that PCIP was liable for a back pay award to compensate Bereda for sex discrimination damages only during the three-year period preceding the filing of Bereda's complaint with the PHRC. 3