Court Opinion

ID: 9467314
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:45:23.444505+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:17.291928
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent.
We all agree that the crucial question for the jury’s determination was whether age discrimination was a factor which made a difference in determining whether plaintiff was to be retained or discharged. Although the trial judge so told the jury in his oral instructions, he refused to word the written interrogatory submitted to the jury in accordance with his oral instructions. Thus, what the jury took into the juryroom read as follows:
1. Was the sixth step guideline one reason for Mrs. Geller not being hired for the permanent art teacher’s position at the Bugbee Elementary School?
*1037The trial judge had previously advised counsel of his proposed wording of the interrogatory. Counsel for the defendants specifically objected in the following colloquy:
Mr. Post: Sir, could I ask that that interrogatory track with your charge to the Jury and say, “One reason that made a difference”?
The Court: No. If it was one reason, that is sufficient.
Mr. Post: That made a difference in their decision.
The Court: No. If it was one reason.
I cannot escape the conclusion that the special interrogatory must have been uppermost in the jury’s mind during its deliberation. Even if any juror had remembered the oral instructions, the written interrogatory would surely settle conclusively any question in the mind of any juror. And it was the question in the interrogatory which the jury answered and not anything else.
It follows that the restriction of the written interrogatory was error and that it was an error which could have resulted in a different verdict. It is not so overwhelmingly clear to me as it seems to be to my brothers that the jury would have decided the same way if the trial judge had conformed the wording of the interrogatory to his oral instructions, as he certainly should have done. In this case the jury should have made their decision on a proper instruction; it is not enough for my brothers to do it for them. So that a jury may decide the case on a proper instruction, and on an interrogatory in accordance with the instruction, I would reverse and remand for a new trial.