Court Opinion

ID: 9482152
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:42:08.39762+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:48.200140
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because I believe that the district court erred in admitting into evidence a consent judgment from the companion civil copyright infringement suit, I respectfully dissent. Rule 408 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides:
Evidence of (1) furnishing or offering or promising to furnish, or (2) accepting or offering or promising to accept, a valuable consideration in compromising or attempting to compromise a claim which was disputed as to either validity or amount, is not admissible to prove liability for or invalidity of the claim or its amount.... This rule does not require the exclusion of any evidence otherwise discoverable merely because it is presented in the course of compromise negotiations. This rule also does not require exclusion when the evidence is offered for another purpose, such as proving bias or prejudice of a witness, negativing a contention of undue delay, or proving an effort to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution.
Fed.R.Evid. 408 (emphasis added). The Advisory Committee notes indicate that the exclusion is based on two grounds: (1) the settlement may be motivated by a “desire for peace” rather than an admission of liability and (2) public policy favors the promotion of compromise and settlement of disputes. I fear that this decision will have an unfortunate chilling effect upon civil settlement agreements.
Rule 408 permits the admission of a settlement agreement into evidence for purposes other than proving liability such as proving bias or prejudice of a witness, rebutting a contention of undue delay, or showing an effort to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution. Fed.R.Evid. 404; see United States v. Hays, 872 F.2d 582, 588 (5th Cir.1989). Notwithstanding the government’s contentions to the contrary, the settlement agreement in the instant case was not admitted for any purpose other than proving liability.
Although the consent judgment does not contain an admission of liability or wrongdoing by William Cohen or Front Row Video, it is highly prejudicial to him on the basis of its several provisions. First, it provides that the civil plaintiffs shall recover the sum of $9000 as damages from the civil defendants. Second, the civil defendants are permanently enjoined from infringing copyrights and exclusive rights under copyright owned by, assigned to, licensed to, or otherwise held by the civil plaintiffs, including copying, reproducing, selling or renting motion picture video cassettes copyrighted by or licensed to the *437plaintiffs. Third, the civil defendants are enjoined from the improper use of the plaintiffs’ trade names, trademarks, and designations of origin of any of their motion pictures or videotapes. Finally, all video cassettes, materials and equipment seized by the United States marshal on June 8, 1989, were forfeited to the civil plaintiffs.
Unlike the majority, I do not accept the government attempt to cloak the consent judgment in terms of an “admission” and thereby utilize Rule 801(d)(2)(A) to circumvent Rule 408’s proscription. Admission of the consent judgment permits the government to suggest that the defendant is guilty of the very conduct for which he is being tried. As the Fifth Circuit aptly stated in Hays, “It does not tax the imagination to envision the juror who retires to deliberate with the notion that if the defendant ] had done nothing wrong, [he] would not have paid the money [pursuant to a settlement agreement].” 872 F.2d at 589.
Moreover, I do not believe that the district court’s limiting instruction prevented the improper inference that the civil judgment established defendant’s guilt in the criminal action. Although the district court instructed that the consent judgment was not proof that the defendant committed any of the crimes alleged in the indictment, it did not instruct the jury regarding the proper purpose for admitting the consent judgment. The district court merely distinguished the burden of proof in a civil case from that in a criminal case and stated, “[y]ou may give the consent judgment such weight as you decide it deserves in relation to this case.” Joint Appendix at 302. In my view, this instruction was inadequate to preserve defendant’s right to a fair trial. I, therefore, believe that the conviction and sentence should be reversed.