Opinion ID: 621702
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Gross Negligence Standard

Text: We turn next to the appellants' contention that the jury, pursuant to the court's purportedly erroneous instructions, applied a standard of general negligence, rather than the required gross 8 Indeed, at the time of Serrano's trial, there was also language in some cases suggesting that such a bar might exist only where the text of the employment statute being invoked provides explicitly that its remedies are exclusive -- language that is not evident in Act 115. See, e.g., Melendez v. KMart Corp., No. Civ. 04-1067, 2006 WL 696082, at  (D.P.R. Mar. 17, 2006) (unreported opinion and order) (ordering plaintiff to show cause why the causes of action under Article[] 1802 . . . should not be dismissed considering settled case law indicating . . . Act 80's nature as the provider of exclusive remedies, thus, preempting causes of action under Article[] 1802) (emphasis added). -19- negligence standard, in imposing liability on HEAM's board members in their individual capacity. Our cases hold that because this claim was not raised in either of the appellants' motions for JMOL, it has been effectively waived. See Rodríguez-García v. MirandaMarín, 610 F.3d 756, 766 n.10 (1st Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 1016 (2011); Parker v. Gerrish, 547 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir. 2008). Even assuming, arguendo, that this claim was merely forfeited, it is still subject to the plain error test, which in this case is but an alternative path to the same result. To meet the requirements of plain error, the appellants must show (1) an error that was (2) clear or obvious and not only (3) affected the appellants' substantial rights but also (4) seriously impaired the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the proceedings -- something akin to a miscarriage of justice. United States v. Torres-Rosario, 658 F.3d 110, 116 (1st Cir. 2011). Given the facts underpinning this argument, the appellants cannot hope to meet this stringent standard. At the close of trial, the appellants requested, in pertinent part, the following jury instructions to be issued on the applicable negligence standard: Defendants' Proposed Jury Instruction No. 36 Civil Code of Puerto Rico, Article 1802 The standard of liability for this cause of action is a negligence standard. [. . .] Negligence under the law of Puerto Rico means failure to use reasonable care which essentially translated into not anticipating -20- and not foreseeing the rational consequences of an act or of a failure to act which a prudent and reasonable person could have foreseen under the same circumstances. Defendants' Proposed Jury Instruction No. 37 Fault for Negligence - Defined Another cause of action filed against the individual defendants . . . is a negligence claim . . . . The standard of liability for this cause of action is a negligence standard. [. . .] Negligence under the law of Puerto Rico means failure to use reasonable care which essentially translates into not anticipating and not foreseeing the rational consequences of an act or of a failure to act which a prudent and reasonable person could have foreseen under the same circumstances. Thus, refined to its essence, the appellants invite us to find that the court's substantial incorporation of their own proposed instructions, rather than issuing, sua sponte, completely divergent gross negligence instructions, constituted at the very least a miscarriage of justice. We decline the invitation. Where a defendant does not offer a particular instruction, and does not rely on the theory of defense embodied in that instruction at trial, the district court's failure to offer an instruction on that theory sua sponte is not plain error. United States v. Alberico, 559 F.3d 24, 27 (1st Cir. 2009). It necessarily follows that where, as here, a defendant not only fails to offer a particular instruction, but proposes an alternative instruction which the court substantially adopts -- and the embodiment of which the -21- defendant espoused throughout the trial proceedings -- no plain error has occurred.