Opinion ID: 2722149
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Court’s Comment on Instruction 15

Text: Reed next argues the district court’s comment regarding Instruction 15 was improper and prejudiced him such that he should receive a new trial. We review whether a district court’s comment on the evidence was improper under an abuse of discretion standard. Warren v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 531 F.3d 693, 698 (8th Cir. 2008). “The trial court has broad discretion in commenting on evidence and may do so in order to give appropriate assistance to the jury.” Id. at 701 (quotation omitted). “The only limitation on this discretion is that the comments must not preclude a fair evaluation of the evidence by the jury.” Id. (quotation omitted). As outlined above, Reed requested an instruction on duties concerning fall protection for a scaffold. The district court decided the proper regulation from which to instruct the jury was the general fall protection regulation. Upon further review of the evidence presented, however, the district court questioned whether either regulation applied because either could be interpreted to require fall protection only when there was a risk of objects falling from inside the scissor lift. Exercising its discretion to give assistance to the jury, the court offered Reed the option of either (1) not instructing on the regulation, or (2) having the court instruct but comment on whether that regulation applied to the facts of this particular case. Reed objected to any comment, but requested the general fall protection instruction be given. The district court made the following comment after reading the instruction: -14- Now, at this time I’m going to deviate from the instructions and make a comment. In federal court, judges are permitted to comment on the evidence. At this time, I will comment on the evidence as it relates to this instruction. This instruction was requested by the Plaintiff. The Court has questions as to whether the evidence in this case applies to the Code of Federal Regulation on the duty to have fall protection. This is because the regulation does not define the location of the falling object. A reading of the regulation would seem to apply to objects on the top of the higher level such as a platform, and that precaution be taken to make certain the object does not fall off the edge of the higher platform. Again, a violation of a regulation is not necessarily negligence, but evidence of negligence that can be considered by you along with other facts and circumstances of the case. A trial judge may comment on the evidence “so long as he does so fairly and impartially, and he may express his opinion upon the facts so long as he makes it clear to the jury that all matters of fact are submitted to their determination.” Gant v. United States, 506 F.2d 518, 520 (8th Cir. 1974). Here, Instruction 19—entitled “Judge’s Opinion”—told the jury: “Neither in these instructions nor in any ruling, action or remark that I have made during the course of this trial have I intended to give any opinion or suggestion as to what your verdict should be. . . . What the verdict shall be is the sole and exclusive duty and responsibility of the jury.” Reed argues the court’s comments “left the distinct impression that OSHA regulations did not mandate fall protection when an object fell from outside an elevated scissor lift” and “essentially told the jury to disregard the instruction.” He contends the prejudicial effect of the comment was further compounded when the court told the jury Reed requested the instruction.9 We disagree. 9 Malone originally proffered a similar instruction but then asked that no instruction be given. -15- As noted above, there was no evidence anything fell from inside the scissor lift and hit Reed. In its comment, the court noted the possibility the regulation did not apply at all, given the evidence. Violation of the regulation might be evidence of whether Malone breached a duty to Reed, but the jury first needed to decide whether the regulation applied to the evidence presented. When coupled with the court’s instruction that it did not intend with its remarks to suggest what the verdict should be, we cannot say the court’s comment “precluded a fair evaluation of the evidence by the jury.” Warren, 531 F.3d at 701 (quotation omitted). We also reject as speculative Reed’s assertion the court’s identification of Reed as the party requesting the instruction so prejudiced him that he is entitled to a new trial. “Mere speculation that a jury verdict may have been based on the jury’s own misunderstanding of the law, even though properly instructed, is an insufficient basis on which to upset a jury verdict.” Craig Outdoor Adver., 528 F.3d at 1022–23 (quotation omitted). Given the district court’s “broad discretion in commenting on evidence,” Warren, 531 F.3d at 701 (quotation omitted), we find no abuse of discretion.