Opinion ID: 1434460
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Blending of Discrimination and Retaliation Instructions

Text: The final set of instructions read to the jury included separate instructions for the discrimination and retaliation claims. Lewis maintains that certain aspects of the instructions could have confused the jurors into incorrectly thinking that Lewis had to prove discrimination and retaliation to prevail on her retaliation claim. The discrimination instruction came first, and it outlined the various elements of Lewis's discrimination claim. The next two pages of instructions contained short paragraphs introducing general retaliation law. Following that came five paragraphs making up the retaliation instruction. The first two paragraphs of the retaliation instruction read as follows: Plaintiff claims that she was singled out for more dangerous assignments, singled out for adverse treatment about her job performance, moved from her partner and her team, and/or refused to transfer her, and/or directed her to more dangerous calls by Defendant City of Chicago, through its agents because she complained about gender discrimination. Plaintiff must also prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant City of Chicago singled her out for more dangerous assignments, singled her out for adverse treatment about her job performance, moved her from her partner and her team, and/or refused to transfer her, and/or directed her to more dangerous calls because she complained of gender discrimination. To determine that Plaintiff Lewis was singled out for more dangerous assignments, singled out for adverse treatment about her job performance, moved from her partner and her team, and/or refused to transfer her, and/or directed her to more dangerous calls because she complained of gender discrimination, you must decide that Defendant City of Chicago would not have singled her out for more dangerous assignments, singled her out for adverse treatment about her job performance, moved her from her partner and her team, and/or refused to transfer her, and/or directed her to more dangerous calls if she had not complained of gender discrimination but everything had been the same. (emphasis added). Lewis takes issue with the inclusion of the word also in the second paragraph of the retaliation instruction. Her argument is that since there was nothing in the first paragraph of the retaliation instruction describing what else Lewis had to prove, then the reader would naturally keep looking backwards in the instructions to give meaning to the word also, and ultimately stumble upon the elements of the discrimination instruction. As a result, Lewis reasons, the jury could have understood the retaliation instruction to mean that she had to prove discrimination to prevail on her retaliation claim. It's fairly clear that the stray also was included in the instructions by error. Here's what happened: After the close of evidence, the district judge sent the jury home for the day and conducted a jury instruction conference. The following morning, the City's counsel proposed an amended retaliation instruction which was tendered to the court. See Tr. at 936. The City's proposal added a new paragraph to the retaliation instruction. After reading the proposed instruction, the judge agreed with including the additional paragraph but said he wanted to switch the ordering of two of the paragraphs. The also made sense as the paragraphs were originally written but lost meaning when they were flip-flopped. Including the stray also did not lead to the jury being misinformed. The jury very easily could have understood the distinction between the discrimination instruction and retaliation instruction. First, it heard closing arguments from counsel that treated the claims as being completely distinct, one not dependent on the other. Second, the retaliation instruction and discrimination instructions were separated by two pages of other instructions. The also may have quite plausibly been taken to refer to those intervening pages or the first paragraph of the retaliation instruction itself, which identified Lewis's retaliation claims. We cannot say that the inclusion of the word also made the instructions so confusing and misleading that it resulted in the jury being conveyed an incorrect message. Dawson, 135 F.3d at 1165. More importantly, Lewis failed to object to the instruction. Rule 51(b)(2) requires a court to give the parties an opportunity to object to an instruction on the record and out of the jury's hearing before the instructions and arguments are delivered. FED.R.CIV.P. 51(b)(2) (2008). Under Rule 51, a court may remedy an error in the instructions that was not preserved if the error is plain and affects substantial rights. FED.R.CIV.P. 51(d)(2); Griffin v. Foley, 542 F.3d 209, 222 (7th Cir.2008). In the context of challenged jury instructions, a party's substantial rights are affected so as to warrant reversal if the error is of such great magnitude that it probably changed the outcome of the trial. United States v. Noel, 581 F.3d 490, 499 (7th Cir.2009) (quoting United States v. Peters, 435 F.3d 746, 754 (7th Cir.2006)). Lewis claims she did not see this revised instruction before it was read to the jury. Appellant's Br. at 23. This implies that it was somehow clandestinely passed to the judge without Lewis or her attorneys having a chance to see it. But the discussion of the changes to the instruction were made in open court. The City's proposed changes to the instruction were tendered to the judge, and there is no indication that Lewis's counsel asked to see a copy or expressed any interest in reviewing the final language. The judge announced his revisions prior to reading the instructions to the jury. We have no reason to think Lewis would have been denied the ability to read the instruction had she expressed any desire to do so. Even without seeing the actual piece of paper, Lewis was orally made aware of all changes that were being made and could have promptly responded. Consequently, although the opportunity to object in the time provided by Rule 51 was short in this case, the opportunity was nonetheless there. In fact, the very next portion of the transcript shows both parties obviously aware of their need to preserve objections and the opportunity to do so, as they quickly renewed previously unrelated objections to the instructions. In sum, the error created by the stray also (if it may be called that) was not significant enough to affect Lewis's substantial rights or to likely change the trial's outcome. It stretches the imagination to suggest that the mistaken inclusion of one word in this set of jury instructions that span twelve pages made any difference in the outcome of the trial. Lewis raises a few additional points, which she argues added to the confusion created by the presence of the stray also. First, she claims Instruction No. 5 contained a confusing use of the word and which, according to Lewis, again impermissibly linked the discrimination and retaliation claims. The instruction said: In deciding Plaintiff Lewis's claims, you should not concern yourselves with whether Defendants' actions were wise, reasonable, or fair. Rather, your concern is only whether Plaintiff Lewis has proved that Defendant City of Chicago and/or Defendant Williams denied her the opportunity to participate in the IMF Detail in Washington, D.C. because of her gender, and whether Defendant City of Chicago took any of the actions identified in the previous instruction in retaliation for her complaint of gender discrimination. (emphasis added). This instruction is a proper statement of law and follows the Seventh Circuit Pattern Instruction 3.07. It deals with an entirely separate subject matter from what is required to prove discrimination and retaliation. Instruction No. 5 simply warned the jurors not to substitute their own judgment for that of the City regarding matters outside of the concerns animated by Title VII. Second, Lewis takes issue with the judge's reading of one of the verdict forms to the jury. Verdict Form 4 originally said that if the jury found that Lewis did not prove retaliation it must find for Williams on the retaliation claim. The verdict form should have said discrimination. But this error was repaired immediately after the judge read the instructions, and was corrected on the verdict form that went back with the jury. Ultimately, then, the corrected verdict forms only helped to alleviate any problems caused by the stray also in the retaliation instruction, rather than compound it.