Opinion ID: 735329
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Treating the Jury's Statement as an Answer to an Interrogatory.

Text: 32 For much the same reasons, we reject Vichare's theory that judgment should be entered based on the jury's finding of discrimination, as expressed in its statement, rather than upon the general verdict to which they unanimously agreed. Because, the argument goes, the jury's statement was in essence an answer to an interrogatory accompanying a general verdict, and because this answer was inconsistent with the general verdict, judgment should have been entered for Vichare pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 49(b). 3 33 Even if we were to adopt Vichare's theory and treat the statement as an answer to an interrogatory accompanying a general verdict, or, perhaps even more plausibly, a third special verdict accompanying the two court-phrased special verdict questions, Vichare's claim still would fail. If there exists a reading that would reconcile a general verdict with an arguably contradictory answer to an interrogatory, or reconcile arguably contradictory special verdicts, a court should adopt that reading. Gallick v. Baltimore & O.R.R., 372 U.S. 108, 119, 83 S.Ct. 659, 665-66, 9 L.Ed.2d 618 (1963) (general verdict and interrogatories); Lavoie v. Pacific Press & Shear Co., 975 F.2d 48, 53 (2d Cir.1992) (general verdict and interrogatories); Brooks v. Brattleboro Mem'l Hosp., 958 F.2d 525, 529 (2d Cir.1992) (special verdicts); Auwood v. Harry Brandt Booking Office, Inc., 850 F.2d 884, 891 (2d Cir.1988) (special verdicts); Schaafsma v. Morin Vermont Corp., 802 F.2d 629, 634-35 (2d Cir.1986) (general verdict and interrogatories); Julien J. Studley, Inc. v. Gulf Oil Corp., 407 F.2d 521, 526-27 (2d Cir.1969) (general verdict and interrogatories). As we have seen, the jury's statement in this case is reconcilable with the jury's finding for the defendant. We do not, therefore, reach the question of whether a jury statement that was legally irreconcilable with a concurrently delivered general verdict could, on either the answer-to-unasked-interrogatory or additional-special-verdict theory, void the general verdict. 34