Opinion ID: 360355
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prejudicial Misconduct, Remittitur, and New Trial

Text: 61 As we have stated, the district court denied Sealy's motion for a new trial conditionally on Ohio's accepting a 50% Remittitur, which it did. The court rejected Sealy's claims that references to Sealy Mattress Co. of Southern California v. Sealy, Inc., supra, 346 F.Supp. 353, 31 and United States v. Sealy, supra, 32 created improper prejudice, but ruled that trial misconduct by Ohio's counsel had led the jury to award excessive damages for which the remittitur was suggested as a cure. Sealy argues here that the court's findings of trial misconduct amounting to prejudice required the court to grant a new trial, because the prejudice could not be said to have been confined to the damage award. Ohio denies that there was prejudicial misconduct, but insists that the district court acted properly to cure it if there was. 62 We must confess to having some difficulty understanding how prejudicial misconduct could be said with certainty to have affected the jury's decision only as to damages. See Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Ry. Co. v. Moquin, 283 U.S. 520, 521-22, 51 S.Ct. 501, 75 L.Ed. 1243 (1931). We do not decide the question here, however, because we have reached the conclusion that the district court committed clear error in ruling that prejudicial misconduct existed. As we have indicated, Ohio denied the existence of prejudicial misconduct in its brief, although its primary contention on this issue was that the district court's resolution of any problem that may have existed was adequate. At oral argument, Ohio renewed its denial of prejudice, asking that this court, if it should be inclined to accept Sealy's challenge to the cure of remittitur, satisfy itself that the district court was correct in finding prejudice. Any hesitancy we might have had in addressing an issue not fully discussed in the briefs on appeal is more than alleviated by the voluminous post-trial briefs filed in the district court, which we have considered along with the record in the case. 63 We think it clear that Ohio is entitled to make this argument, despite Sealy's protestations. It is quite true that a plaintiff who accepts a remittitur may not appeal from the district court order proposing it as an alternative to a new trial. Donovan v. Penn Shipping Co., Inc., 429 U.S. 648, 650, 97 S.Ct. 835, 51 L.Ed.2d 112 (1977). The Donovan principle also forecloses Ohio from seeking reinstatement of the 50% Remitted now that Sealy attacks the remittitur on appeal. As this court held in the recent case of Durant v. Surety Homes Corporation, No. 77-2045, 582 F.2d 1081, 1085 (7th Cir. August 8, 1978), however: 64 On the other hand, a prevailing party may quite properly defend his judgment on any ground supported by the record. Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 475 n.6, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970). For the limited purpose of defending the remitted judgment they have accepted, we believe the Durants are entitled to argue that the district court erred in conditioning the denial of Surety's new trial motion on the acceptance of a remittitur. 65 Sealy's post-trial motion listed no less than 86 instances of alleged prejudicial misconduct by Ohio's trial counsel. We have no intention of further extending the length of this opinion by repeating the list and setting the context of each incident. A general summary will suffice. At various times, counsel stated that Sealy was attempting to get favorable testimony before the jury while precluding Ohio from developing the whole story pertinent thereto, referring, E. g., to the California licensee's lawsuit referred to above, notes 7 & 31, which was true even though scarcely graciously put. Counsel frequently disparaged Sealy's witness by insinuations in questions, or by stating in response to objections, that the witnesses were unresponsive, that they remembered details much better when Sealy's counsel sought testimony from them than when the witnesses were pressed on cross- or adverse examination, that various business reasons for Sealy practices put forward by its witnesses were not true reasons, that a witness lacked knowledge of the subject matter of his testimony, and that witnesses were testifying inconsistently. One of the most extreme instances of this type of conduct occurred in response to an objection to counsel's taking so long to cross-examine a Sealy witness, when counsel replied, It is a lot harder to crack a phony story, than to tell it in the first place, Judge. Counsel also made numerous statements along the lines that Sealy's counsel was engaged in improperly testifying in his role as counsel, was improperly arguing to the jury during the taking of testimony, and had made repeated factual errors. Other comments were made between counsel (and definitely not just by Ohio's counsel) that can only be characterized as either harmless badinage or occasionally angry exclamations of no particular consequence, a number of which appear on Sealy's list. Counsel also engaged in several argumentative ejaculations that clearly ought not to have been made, two of the most serious of which were Let's ask the price fixer the question and If the Sealy organization is in favor of it, it is most probably illegal. 66 We have carefully examined the pertinent portions of the record, and can sum up part of our reactions by saying that some of the items on Sealy's laundry list were quite arguably unobjectionable, others were objectionable, if at all, only on the basis of their tone, and others were no doubt improper behavior. The decision as to whether those items which were improper produced prejudice denying Sealy a fair trial, however, cannot be made without examining the general context of the trial to determine the possible impact. See 6A Moore's Federal Practice P 59.05(3) at 59-54 (1974). 67 This was a long jury trial of a complex antitrust case. While the challenges and subtleties of antitrust law often hold a strong fascination for lawyers, a trial such as this one could hardly be expected to keep the average lay juror on the edge of his or her seat for twelve weeks. Recognizing this, in fact, the district court and the attorneys for the parties engaged in a running facetious colloquy throughout the trial, the point of which was that jurors might tend to doze off as a trial day wore on, and that by three o'clock some sparks set flying by counsel could be just the thing to regain the jury's full attention. The court often would advise counsel after a verbal skirmish over some objection or other that we needed that. The court repeatedly expressed its view, informed by observation of the jury, that the jurors seemed to like both lead counsel and their different styles, that the attorneys had done a fine job of livening up a potentially deadening case, that the jury would be able to sort out the evidence from the personalities when they deliberated, and that the court could perceive no real possibilities of prejudice to either party. This is not to say that the court refused to intervene when it perceived counsel approaching the line of possible prejudice. Numerous objections were properly sustained, and the jury was repeatedly admonished that the exchanges of the lawyers were not evidence and were not to be considered in deciding the case. Compare New York Central Railroad Company v. Johnson, 279 U.S. 310, 318, 49 S.Ct. 300, 73 L.Ed. 706 (1929); With Koufakis v. Carvel, 425 F.2d 892, 901, 903 (2d Cir. 1970), on which Sealy heavily relied in its post-trial briefs in the district court. We surely would not bind Sealy thereby, but it is interesting to note that at a point in the trial when nearly half of the cited seriously prejudicial incidents had occurred, Sealy's lead counsel told the court: 68 I will say this, your Honor, and it may prejudice me if I should ever find myself in a position where I have to appeal here, but I will say it nevertheless. I think you have done a great job of giving the parties just as fair a trial as a judge could ever do. 69 It also is worth pointing out that although it would not be fair to characterize all (or nearly all) of Ohio's counsel's alleged misconduct as responsive to arguable improprieties by Sealy's counsel, numerous instances can be so described, See Stanczak v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 174 F.2d 43, 48 (7th Cir. 1949), and it can certainly be said that Sealy's counsel strayed from the straight and narrow on more than a few occasions. Counsel for both sides definitely contributed to keeping the jury awake. 70 At one point relatively late in the trial, the court commended the attorneys as follows: 71 The Court: Gentlemen, I am real proud of you. You are doing so much better than I expected. I approached this case with great fear and concern. 72 Mr. Hastings: You thought there were going to be fisticuffs? 73 The Court: Yes, yes. 74 In the month of trial that followed, involving nearly 2400 pages of transcript, only seven additional incidents occurred which Sealy even bothered to include in its list of 86 prejudicial occurrences. All were minor in nature. 75 While we do not condone conduct by counsel not designed to advance his case by properly established procedures, we are also not unmindful that in the heat of advocacy, conduct and words which are exchanged and which when viewed on the cold record appear to be on the unseemly side may very well not be so regarded that way at all by the jury, particularly when they occur in the give and take of a hotly contested and extended lawsuit. Juries are not so likely to get excited or inflamed by lawyers' talk as lawyers think they are. Smith v. Philadelphia Transp. Co., 173 F.2d 721, 726 (3d Cir. 1949). If the jury were to be prejudiced by such activity it would be just as likely that it would be directed toward the offender. Ultimately we think the common sense of a jury will prevail in most instances and we are not concerned on the present record that that is not the situation. 76 When the jury returned its $6.8 million verdict, the district court queried the attorneys whether he had discretion not to treble the damage award. The court was advised that Congress had left no discretion on that point, and, as the court later stated in arguments on post-trial motions, it was very surprised at that result. During those arguments, Sealy's counsel told the court that a judgment in excess of $20 million would wipe out Sealy's net worth and require giving the whole business to Ohio. These factors clearly influenced the court. As it stated in its ruling on the new trial motion: 77 The size of the jury's verdict was shocking. At the time it was returned I considered it shocking and asked How did it happen(?) 78 After reflection on Sealy's 86 instances of alleged misconduct, the court decided that those instances must have produced prejudice in the jury room, notwithstanding that, as we have noted, the court had consistently throughout the trial, in the context in which the instances occurred and with the benefit of observation of the jury, expressed its view that no prejudice had been created. 79 We have concluded that the district court erred in the decisional result of the search on which it embarked for causative error. In the first place, we cannot read the court's decision as an exercise of its discretion to weigh the evidence and to find a damage award not fairly supported thereby, for beyond passing comments that some of the damages claimed tended to the speculative, the court engaged in no weighing of the evidence. Indeed, the court's shock at the size of the full judgment appears to have derived as much from its recognition that trebling was mandatory as from any concern that the facts did not support the award. There was in fact competent evidence that could have supported a verdict substantially higher than that returned. That the jury returned an award lower in amount that the evidence, if believed, could warrant may itself be an indication of a lack of jury passion and prejudice. See Stanczak, supra at 48; Cf. Koufakis, supra at 901; Missouri-K,-T. R. Co. of Texas v. Ridgway, 191 F.2d 363, 368-69 (8th Cir. 1951). Moreover, it was plainly the jury's task to decide whether or to what degree to believe Ohio's damages evidence. It was properly instructed on proximate cause, and that it should only award damages capable of reasonable ascertainment and must not speculate or guess. We note in this regard that Sealy's attacks on Ohio's damages evidence during the trial may fairly be described as mild, and it did not even go into the issue on final argument. Recognizing that damage issues in these cases are rarely susceptible of the kind of concrete, detailed proof of injury which is available in other contexts, Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., supra, 395 U.S. at 123, 89 S.Ct. at 1576, we think the Court's conclusion in Eastman Kodak Company of New York v. Southern Photo Materials Company, 273 U.S. 359, 379, 47 S.Ct. 400, 405, 71 L.Ed. 684 (1927), applies equally here: 80 (P)laintiff's evidence as to the amount of damages, . . . was competent; . . . it sufficiently showed the extent of the damages, as a matter of just and reasonable inference, to warrant the submission of this question to the jury. The jury was instructed . . . that the amount of the damages could not be determined by mere speculation or guess, but must be based on evidence furnishing data from which the amount of the probable loss could be ascertained as a matter of reasonable inference. And The question as to the amount of the plaintiff's damages having been properly submitted to the jury, its determination as to this matter is conclusive. (Emphasis added.) 81 Accord, Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251, 264, 66 S.Ct. 574, 90 L.Ed. 652 (1946); Fontana Aviation, Inc. v. Beech Aircraft Corporation, supra, 432 F.2d at 1085-86. Accordingly, we are of the opinion that the district court was mistaken in taking the size of the jury's award as a demonstration that there must have been prejudice created somewhere. 82 Also, as we have suggested, we have reached the firm conviction that the court erred in finding that there was in fact such prejudice. It should go without saying that we are reluctant to overturn the finding of the district court on such a matter, as we do not have the benefit of having observed the trial and felt its pulse. On the other hand, the considerable deference usually to be accorded to a district court's evaluation of the effect of misconduct is necessarily reduced in this case, where the court, while observing the trial and perceiving its tone, consistently stated in definite terms its confidence that no prejudice was extant, and only a year later, in ruling on post-trial motions, did the court reverse its view. It is axiomatic that litigation parties are entitled only to a fair trial, not to a perfect one. Our thorough and independent review of the record has convinced us that the district court was right the first time, that it did a commendable job of ensuring that the parties received a fair trial, and that it committed error in applying hindsight to a trial that was by no means perfect but that was free from prejudicial error. 83 Accordingly, in view of the fact that the jury verdict was unnecessarily halved, Sealy was, to say the least, not prejudiced by the district court's disposition of its new trial motion. 33 The remitted damage judgment in Ohio's favor is affirmed. 84