Opinion ID: 735329
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Formulation of the Special Verdict Questions.

Text: 41 The formulation of special verdict questions rests in the sound discretion of the trial judge, and should be reviewed by an appellate court only for an abuse of that discretion. Cann v. Ford Motor Co., 658 F.2d 54, 58 (2d Cir.1981). Reversal is warranted if the questions mislead or confuse the jury, or if they inaccurately frame the issues to be resolved by the jury. Id. 42 The question on the special verdict form given by the judge to the jury read as follows: Did plaintiff prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendants discriminated or retaliated against him? Vichare had requested a special verdict form that separately listed each of his claims of discrimination: 43 Did plaintiff prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendants discriminated against him by failing to place him on the Management Committee? 44 .... by failing to place him on the Operating Committee? 45 .... by paying him less than comparably situated non-Indian Senior Vice Presidents who were not on the Operating Committee? [etc.] 46 He claims that, because it refused to break down his claims in this fashion, the court confused the jury into thinking that Vichare had to prevail on all of his claims in order to recover. His primary ground for this assertion is the jury's note stating that [t]he jury cannot agree on all points, we are split down the middle. 47 The court's special verdict questions must be read in conjunction with the judge's charge to the jury. Romano v. Howarth, 998 F.2d 101, 104 (2d Cir.1993). In this case, the charge made clear that Vichare could recover on any of his claims. In the section of the instructions concerning damages, for example, the court stated the following: 48 If you find that AMBAC denied Mr. Vichare a position on the management committee or the operating committee, or both, at least in part because of his race or national origin, then you should award Mr. Vichare damages.... 49 If you find that AMBAC discriminated against Mr. Vichare by paying him less than comparably situated non-Indian and non-Asian-American executives, you should award Mr. Vichare the amount of money that will compensate him for the difference between what he was paid and what he should have been paid, absent the discrimination. 50 If you find that AMBAC discriminated against Mr. Vichare by dismissing him, then you may award damages. Similarly, if you find that AMBAC retaliated against Mr. Vichare by dismissing him, then you may award him damages. 51 This message was not only delivered orally to the jurors, but they were allowed, midway through their deliberations, to take a copy of it with them into the jury room. These instructions indicated that each of Vichare's allegations if proven was itself sufficient to support liability. The cases relied upon by Vichare in which there were reversals are inapplicable here, as the special verdict forms in those cases either misstated the law, or presented it in an incomplete fashion. See Romano, 998 F.2d at 105-07 (special verdict form failed to provide the Supreme Court's objective criteria on an issue, and erroneously suggested that two inquiries were separate grounds for recovery when one was actually a subset of the other); Cann, 658 F.2d at 58 (special verdict form phrased the liability theories conjunctively rather than disjunctively, perhaps leading the jury to believe that plaintiff had to prove each theory to prevail); Ajax Hardware Mfg. Corp. v. Industrial Plants Corp., 569 F.2d 181, 186-87 (2d Cir.1977) (special verdict form withdrew two of three alternative breach of contract theories relied upon by plaintiff, despite the fact that plaintiff had produced sufficient evidence to sustain all three). 52