Court Opinion

ID: 9387757
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-18 21:00:33.558582+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:08.723255
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                       For the First Circuit

No. 22-1596

              U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION,

                       Plaintiff, Appellant,

                                 v.

                         HENRY B. SARGENT,

                        Defendant, Appellee,

 FREDERICK M. MINTZ; ALAN P. FRAADE; JOSEPH J. TOMASEK; PATRICK
                            GIORDANO,

                            Defendants.

          APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
               FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

         [Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District Judge]

                               Before

                       Barron, Chief Judge,
                 Lynch and Gelpí, Circuit Judges.

          Paul G. Alvarez, Senior Appellate Counsel, with whom Dan
M. Berkovitz, General Counsel, and Michael A. Conley, Solicitor,
were on brief, for appellant.

          Peter R. Ginsberg, with whom Christopher R. Neff and
Moskowitz & Book LLP were on brief, for appellee.

                           April 18, 2023
          BARRON, Chief Judge.    A party to a civil jury trial has

the right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 48(c) to request

that the district court individually poll each juror after the

jury has returned a verdict to confirm that each juror agrees with

the verdict that was announced.     The question presented in this

interlocutory appeal is whether a party that has been denied that

right is automatically entitled to a new trial, even when the jury

has been polled collectively, or whether -- given that Federal

Rule of Civil Procedure 61 instructs that we "must disregard all

errors . . . that do not affect any party's substantial rights"

-- that party must show prejudice in the specific case at hand to

be entitled to that remedy.

          We have not had occasion to address this question before.

But, we have long held that denial of the right under Federal Rule

of Criminal Procedure 31(d) to poll each juror individually in a

criminal case is per se reversible error, see Miranda v. United

States, 255 F.2d 9, 18 (1st Cir. 1958); Ira Green, Inc. v. Mil.

Sales & Serv. Co., 775 F.3d 12, 25 (1st Cir. 2014), even though

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a) sets forth an analogue to

Civil Rule 61, see Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a) ("Any error . . . that

does not affect substantial rights must be disregarded.").       In

light of the arguments presented, and given that we do not write

on a clean state but are instead bound by circuit precedents that

we have no occasion to consider anew here, we conclude that our

                              - 2 -
circuit   law   points   us   to   interpreting   Civil   Rule   48(c)   no

differently from our interpretation of Criminal Rule 31(d).              We

therefore affirm the interlocutory order of the District Court.

                                     I.

                                     A.

           In June 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission

("SEC") filed this civil enforcement action against Henry B.

Sargent in the United States District Court for the District of

Massachusetts.     The action alleges that Sargent engaged in a

"fraudulent and deceptive scheme to disguise public stock sales by

corporate affiliates that should have been registered with the

[SEC]" under federal securities law.

           A ten-day trial before Judge William G. Young ensued in

the District of Massachusetts.            The jury returned a unanimous

verdict against Sargent.

           The court clerk first recorded the verdict by reading

aloud each of the questions on the verdict form along with each of

the jurors' corresponding responses.          The clerk then polled the

jury collectively by asking:

           CLERK: So say you Madam Forelady, is that your
           verdict?

           FOREPERSON: Yes.

           CLERK: So say you members of the jury?

           JURY: (In unison.) Yes.

                                   - 3 -
            Judge Young then thanked the jurors for their service

and directed them to retire to the room where they had deliberated.

Before the jury left the courtroom, Sargent's counsel asked: "Can

we poll the jury?"     Judge Young responded: "Denied.      They may be

excused."

            After the jury retired to the deliberation room, Judge

Young remained on the bench to discuss several matters with the

parties.    He then joined the jurors in that room.

            The next day, Sargent informed the SEC that he believed

Judge Young had committed reversible error by denying his request

to poll the jury, because he had been thereby denied his right to

poll each of the jurors individually.       The SEC immediately filed

an emergency motion to recall the jurors so that they might be

polled individually, which Judge Young denied.      The following day,

Sargent moved for a new trial.1

            At   a   hearing   regarding   the   motion,   Judge   Young

acknowledged that his denial of Sargent's request was in clear

            The SEC notes that Sargent "did not invoke [Civil] Rule
            1

48(c)" when he first requested that the jury be polled, did not
immediately object that the court's denial of his request violated
Civil Rule 48(c), and only invoked Civil Rule 48(c) before the
court for the first time in his motion for a new trial. But the
SEC does not argue on appeal that Sargent's invocation of Civil
Rule 48(c) was for that reason untimely, and the District Court
below concluded that it was not. We therefore consider any such
argument waived.    See United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17
(1st Cir. 1990) ("[I]ssues adverted to in a perfunctory manner,
unaccompanied by some effort at developed argumentation, are
deemed waived.").

                                  - 4 -
violation of Civil Rule 48(c).        Judge Young explained that he

"simply did not know the rule" because it had been adopted in 2009

and since then no party in a civil case had requested that he poll

each of the jurors individually. He then partially recused himself

for the determination of whether that error automatically entitled

Sargent to a new trial or whether it should first be assessed for

harmlessness.

                                 B.

           The issue was randomly assigned to Judge Richard G.

Stearns.   After receiving additional briefing from the parties, he

ruled that a violation of the right to poll each of the jurors

individually under Civil Rule 48(c) is per se reversible and that

Sargent was therefore entitled to a new trial.

           Judge Stearns based this conclusion chiefly upon our

dicta in Ira Green that because "[t]he criminal and civil rules on

jury polling are now virtually identical[,] . . . [c]ommon sense

suggests that [they] should be interpreted in pari passu."      775

F.3d at 25.     Judge Stearns also relied on the Seventh Circuit's

statements in an earlier case that "there is little reason to

distinguish" between the civil and criminal jury polling rules,

and that "[t]here is no doubt that a district court's refusal, or

even neglect, to conduct a jury poll upon a timely request is

ground for a new trial."    Verser v. Barfield, 741 F.3d 734, 738

(7th Cir. 2013).

                               - 5 -
          Although Judge Stearns termed our dicta in Ira Green a

"blaze marker" for how we might rule on the question, he did

acknowledge that decision had also called the issue "open to

legitimate question." Ira Green, 775 F.3d at 24–25. Judge Stearns

also noted Ira Green's observation that "[m]ore than one state

court, interpreting similar parallel mandatory jury-polling rules,

has concluded that a violation of the right to a jury poll

engenders automatic reversal in criminal cases but not in civil

cases."   Id. at 25 (citing Wiseman v. Armstrong, 989 A.2d 1027,

1040–41 (Conn. 2010)).

          Judge   Stearns       therefore   sua    sponte   certified     the

question for immediate interlocutory appeal, which we granted.

The SEC then filed this timely appeal.

                                      II.

          The   issue    that    we   address     is   whether,   under   our

precedent, the District Court's denial here of the right to poll

each juror individually under Civil Rule 48(c), after the jury had

been collectively polled, was per se reversible error.2           Our review

is de novo.   See Langlois v. Abington Hous. Auth., 207 F.3d 43, 47

(1st Cir. 2000). We begin by explaining that, under our precedent,

          2 We note that, were we to agree with the SEC that
harmlessness review applies, Sargent's motion for a new trial would
not necessarily fail. Rather, Sargent would have the opportunity
to show that the error prejudiced him in a way that warrants a new
trial.

                                   - 6 -
a district court's denial of the right to poll each of the jurors

individually    under   Criminal    Rule   31(d)   constitutes    per    se

reversible error. We then explain why we conclude that our circuit

precedent leads us to an affirmance.

                                    A.

           The key precedent with respect to Criminal Rule 31(d) is

Miranda, which we decided in 1958.         At that time, Criminal Rule

31(d) provided:

           Poll of Jury. When a verdict is returned and
           before it is recorded the jury shall be polled
           at the request of any party or upon the court's
           own motion.    If upon the poll there is not
           unanimous concurrence, the jury may be
           directed to retire for further deliberations
           or may be discharged.
Miranda, 255 F.2d at 17.

           In Miranda, after the jury had returned a guilty verdict

against   the   defendant,   the   district   court   polled     the    jury

collectively and    ordered that the verdict be recorded.                Id.

Counsel for the criminal defendant then requested that each of the

jurors be polled individually, but the district court denied the

request on the ground that the verdict had already been recorded.

Id. at 17–18.     The defendant then appealed, seeking to have his

criminal conviction vacated on a number of grounds.        One of those

grounds was that the district court had "erred" in denying the

request to poll each of the jurors individually and that the error

was "reversible."    Id. at 17.

                                   - 7 -
          In assessing that contention, we explained that "[t]he

right of the defendant to have the jury polled . . . is of ancient

origin and of basic importance," and that this was the right "thus

recognized and established by [Criminal] Rule 31(d)."   Id. (citing

Humphries v. District of Columbia, 174 U.S. 190, 194 (1899)).     We

added that the "object" of individual polling is "to give each

juror an opportunity . . . to declare in open court his assent to

the verdict," so that "the court and the parties [can] ascertain

with certainty that a unanimous verdict has in fact been reached

and that no juror has been coerced or induced to agree to a verdict

to which he has not fully assented."     Id.

          Having identified the right that the rule secured, which

the government had "concede[d]," id., we then addressed whether

that right had been denied. We concluded that it had. We explained

that the defendant "was denied a reasonable opportunity to have

the jury polled," and that "[i]t was not enough that the trial

judge had [collectively polled] the jurors."    Id. at 18.   That was

so, we explained, because "the right to poll the jury is the right

to require each juror individually to state publicly his assent to

or dissent from the returned verdict."    Id.

          With this analysis in place, we then turned to the

question of remedy.   We explained in that regard that there was no

need to address the defendant's other grounds for seeking a new

trial.   The reason that we gave was that "the judgment must be

                               - 8 -
reversed and a new trial ordered because of the denial of the

defendant's right to poll the jury."          Id.

             In so concluding, we did not undertake any inquiry into

whether the denial of the right could be deemed harmless.                 And,

that was so even though Criminal Rule 52(a), entitled "Harmless

Error," was on the books at the time and provided that "[a]ny error

.   .   .   which   does   not    affect   substantial   rights   shall    be

disregarded."       Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a), reprinted in 18 U.S.C.A.

app. at 3439 (1958).

             In the wake of Miranda, Criminal Rule 31(d) has been

amended to make manifest what Miranda understood to be already

there: that the right the rule secured was a right to poll each of

the jurors individually following a verdict, and not simply to

poll the jury collectively.          See Fed. R. Crim. P. 31(d) advisory

committee's note to 1998 amendment.          Moreover, our circuit has not

questioned our conclusion in Miranda that a denial of that right

in a criminal case, when "seasonably exercised," Miranda, 255 F.2d

at 17, requires a new trial without any consideration of whether

the error was harmless.          On the contrary, only a few years ago in

Ira Green, we declared that "the prevailing rule" both in our

circuit and others under Criminal Rule 31(d) is that "a failure to

poll the jury after a timely request constitutes per se reversible

error."     775 F.3d at 25 (emphasis added) (first citing United

States v. F.J. Vollmer & Co., 1 F.3d 1511, 1522 (7th Cir. 1993);

                                     - 9 -
then citing Virgin Islands v. Hercules, 875 F.2d 414, 419 (3d Cir.

1989); and then citing Miranda, 255 F.2d at 18).          Nor does the SEC

take issue with this assessment of the state of our precedent as

it stood as of the time of Ira Green.3

           To be sure, under the "law of the circuit," we as a panel

are not bound by     our prior circuit          precedent if "subsequent

controlling authority" -- whether a decision of the United States

Supreme Court, an en banc decision of our court, or a statute --

has directly "contradicted" it.           United States v. Barbosa, 896

F.3d 60, 74 (1st Cir. 2018).      But, the SEC has chosen not to argue

that this precedent must be rethought given intervening Supreme

Court   caselaw.   Rather,   it    does    no   more   than   gesture   at   a

suggestion that the Supreme Court's subsequent precedent does

contradict our precedent insofar as that precedent holds that a

violation of   Criminal   Rule 31(d)'s right to poll each juror

individually is per se reversible error.

           The government does so by pointing to Rivera v. Illinois,

556 U.S. 148 (2009), which holds that the denial of the right to

exercise peremptory challenges is not per se reversible error but

           3To the extent that, in its reply brief, the SEC attempts
to recharacterize the "prevailing rule" as requiring per se
reversal only where "the jury was not polled at all -- either
individually or collectively," that argument, which was not
presented in the SEC's opening brief, is waived. See United States
v. Casey, 825 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir. 2016).

                                  - 10 -
rather must be assessed for harmlessness.             That mere gesturing is

insufficient to lead us to reconsider Miranda.

            The    SEC   acknowledges     that    the    Supreme       Court     has

recognized that some errors in the criminal context do "defy

analysis by 'harmless-error' standards," Arizona v. Fulminante,

499 U.S. 279, 309 (1991) -- a class of errors that the Court has

come to refer to as "structural errors," Weaver v. Massachusetts,

137 S. Ct. 1899, 1907–08 (2017).          And, in the end, the SEC makes

no argument that the error identified in Miranda is not of that

"structural" kind, such that, in light of Rivera, our finding of

per se reversible error in Miranda for a denial of the right that

Criminal Rule 31(d) secures is no longer good law.

            In fact, at oral argument, the SEC made clear that it

was, for the purposes of this case, accepting as good law Miranda's

treatment   of     the   denial    of   the   right     to    poll     each    juror

individually under Criminal Rule 31(d) as per se reversible error,

and separately arguing that we must nonetheless treat the violation

of Civil Rule 48(c) that is at issue here differently.                            We

therefore   deem    waived   any    argument     that    we    should     overturn

Miranda's   "per    se   reversible"     holding,     see     United    States    v.

Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17 (1st Cir. 1990), and proceed to consider

only the SEC's argument in this appeal -- that, notwithstanding

Miranda, a district court's denial of Civil Rule 48(c)'s right to

poll each juror individually must be assessed for harmlessness.

                                    - 11 -
                                 B.

           The SEC emphasizes that the Supreme Court has never found

a trial error in a civil case to be "structural."    See Al Haramain

Islamic Found., Inc. v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury, 686 F.3d 965, 988

(9th Cir. 2012).   It also contends that we have treated the civil

jury-polling right as non-constitutional, see Ira Green, 775 F.3d

at 25, and that, even in the criminal context, the Court has never

found a violation of a non-constitutional right to be "structural,"

while it has recognized that even "[m]ost constitutional errors"

are not.   Fulminante, 499 U.S. at 306.    Thus, the SEC contends,

the fact that Civil Rule 48(c) errors result in the denial of a

non-constitutional right in a civil context provides strong reason

to conclude that they cannot be per se reversible.

           The SEC further adds that in a civil case the burden is

on the party claiming an error to show that the error was not

harmless, while in a criminal case the burden is on the government

to show that it was, even when the error results in the denial of

a non-constitutional right.     See Shinseki v. Sanders, 556 U.S.

396, 410–11 (2009) (citing Palmer v. Hoffman, 318 U.S. 109, 116

(1943)).   And, the SEC also points to the inherent differences

between criminal and civil cases in terms of the higher stakes and

the correspondingly higher burden of proof in the former.       See

Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 762 (1946).   In so doing,

                               - 12 -
the SEC challenges as mistaken our assumption in Ira Green that

the two contexts should receive the same treatment.

           In assessing the force of these contentions, however, we

must keep in mind the state of our own precedent, as well as the

text of the rules implicated in this case.        And, we conclude that,

in light of our precedent, we must reject the SEC's position, at

least given the arguments that it has made to us as to why the

error at issue here is not per se reversible.

                                       1.

           We begin with the text of each of the jury-polling rules

at issue: Criminal Rule 31(d) and Civil Rule 48(c).            As we noted

in Ira Green, the rules are, textually, "virtually identical."

775 F.3d at 25.       After all, Civil Rule 48(c) was "drawn from

Criminal Rule 31(d)" with only "minor revisions to reflect Civil

Rules   Style   and   the   parties'    opportunity   to   stipulate   to   a

nonunanimous verdict."       Fed. R. Civ. P. 48(c) advisory committee's

note to 2009 amendment.       In fact, the advisory committee notes to

Criminal Rule 31(d), in calling the rule "a restatement of existing

law and practice," cited two cases for support, one of which was

a federal civil case.       Fed. R. Crim. P. 31(d) advisory committee's

note to 1944 adoption (first citing Mackett v. United States, 90

F.2d 462, 465 (7th Cir. 1937); and then citing Bruce v. Chestnut

Farms-Chevy Chase Dairy, 126 F.2d 224 (D.C. Cir. 1942)).          Nor does

                                   - 13 -
the SEC point to any textual difference between the two rules as

a basis for its position.

            We turn, then, to the text of the two harmless error

rules, Criminal Rule 52(a) and Civil Rule 61.           The SEC places

significant emphasis on the portion of the text of Civil Rule 61

that provides that "the court must disregard all errors and defects

that do not affect any party's substantial rights."         Fed. R. Civ.

P.   61   (emphases   added).   The   SEC   argues   that   because   this

"categorical mandate does not provide an exception for [Civil]

Rule 48(c) errors," the text of Civil Rule 61 itself precludes

treating such errors as per se reversible.

            However, in making this argument, the SEC overlooks the

fact that Criminal Rule 52(a), in a similarly categorical mandate,

provides that "[a]ny error . . . that does not affect substantial

rights must be disregarded."      Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a) (emphases

added).    Similarly, the harmless error statute -- which applies to

both criminal and civil cases -- states that in "any appeal"

regarding "any case," the court "shall give judgment after an

examination of the record without regard to errors or defects which

do not affect the substantial rights of the parties."          28 U.S.C.

§ 2111 (emphases added).

             So, it is hard to see how the text of Civil Rule 61

that the SEC zeroes in on, standing alone, could provide a basis

for its argument based on text.       The SEC also acknowledges that

                                - 14 -
the Supreme Court has recognized that some errors it has recognized

as structural errors "defy" harmless error review and are therefore

per se reversible.   Fulminante, 499 U.S. at 309.

          True, Civil Rule 61 and Criminal Rule 52(a) exhibit more

textual variation than the two jury-polling rules.        But, the SEC

has not identified how any of the differences between the two rules

(such as using "any error" instead of "all errors") are material

rather than stylistic.

                                 2.

                                 a.

          Perhaps the SEC's strongest argument for its position is

"the historic difference between how courts review errors in

criminal and civil cases."     In that regard, it notes the higher

stakes and correspondingly higher burden of proof in criminal

cases, as well as the fact that, in civil cases, the burden is on

the party complaining of error to show that the error was not

harmless, whereas the burden is reversed in criminal cases.

          This argument could be read as supporting the much

broader notion that no federal civil trial error can be per se

reversible, even though federal criminal trial errors can be. And,

indeed, in line with that logic, the SEC also attempts to argue

that no civil trial errors are per se reversible.

          This   argument,   however,   runs   headlong   into   another

aspect of our own precedent, in which we treated the different

                               - 15 -
non-constitutional   issue   of   a   district   court's   permitting

alternate jurors to participate in jury deliberations in a civil

trial as per se reversible error.4      See Cabral v. Sullivan, 961

F.2d 998, 1003 (1st Cir. 1992).   In arriving at that conclusion in

Cabral, moreover, we relied on cases involving Civil Rule 47(b)'s

criminal analogue, Criminal Rule 24(c). And, based on those cases,

we explained that, because the two rules "literally read the same,"

we "[did] not believe the drafters meant for any variations in the

interpretation of the[] two rules."     Id. at 1001 n.3.

          Cabral is therefore in tension with the SEC's argument

that this non-constitutional civil trial error cannot be per se

reversible.   Cabral also supports Ira Green's observation that

"[c]ommon sense suggests" that analogous civil and criminal rules

"should be interpreted in pari passu" with regard to whether

violations of those rules should be assessed for harmlessness.

Ira Green, 775 F.3d at 25.

          The SEC does argue in its reply brief that Cabral is no

longer good law due to the Supreme Court's decision in United

States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 (1993).    There, the Court held that

a district court's permitting alternate jurors to sit in on jury

deliberations did not warrant a new trial because it did not affect

          4  Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 47(b) previously
provided that "[a]n alternate juror who does not replace a regular
juror shall be discharged after the jury retires to consider its
verdict." Cabral v. Sullivan, 961 F.2d 998, 1001 (1st Cir. 1992).

                              - 16 -
the substantial rights of the defendant, even though it violated

Criminal Rule 24(c).       Id. at 739-41.

           Our decision in United States v. Houlihan, 92 F.3d 1271

(1st Cir. 1996), again is in tension with the SEC's view.                 Houlihan

noted that the alternate jurors in Cabral actually participated in

the deliberations, while in Olano they were instructed not to

participate.       See    id.   at    1288    n.16.      Indeed,   Cabral    itself

emphasized     that      the    alternates         had   participated       in   the

deliberations, while distinguishing earlier precedents in which

the   alternates    had   sat    in   on     the   deliberations    but   had    not

participated.      Cabral, 961 F.2d at 1001 nn.4–5; see also Manning

v. Huffman, 269 F.3d 720, 725–26 (6th Cir. 2001); United States v.

Ottersburg, 76 F.3d 137, 140 (7th Cir. 1996); United States v.

Aguilar, 743 F.3d 1144, 1149–50 (8th Cir. 2014).               Meanwhile, Olano

emphasized the lack of evidence in that case "that the alternate

jurors . . . participated in the jury's deliberations" either

"verbally or through 'body language.'"                507 U.S. at 739.

           Indeed, the SEC itself turns out in the end to be a less

stout defender of the contention that a civil trial error cannot

be per se reversible.           At oral argument, it conceded that some

errors that the Supreme Court has recognized as structural in the

criminal context -- such as the right to an impartial judge,

Fulminante, 499 U.S. at 309 (citing Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510,

535 (1927)) -- might very well be per se reversible in the civil

                                       - 17 -
context.   Cf. Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868, 886-

87 (2009) (reversing because a state justice's failure to recuse

when a party had contributed $3 million to the justice's campaign

created    a   "probability       of     actual       bias   ris[ing]    to   an

unconstitutional     level"   under      the    Due   Process   Clause   of   the

Fourteenth Amendment); id. at 898 (Roberts, C.J., dissenting)

(questioning whether judge's erroneous failure to recuse should be

assessed for harmlessness).        Thus, given that the SEC ultimately

stops short of arguing that civil trial errors categorically cannot

be per se reversible, and given that both we and other circuits

currently recognize some civil trial errors as per se reversible,

we fail to see how the SEC's arguments in this regard justify

singling     out   jury-polling        errors    as    meriting   differential

treatment in the criminal and civil contexts.

           All that said, the SEC is right that, as we noted in Ira

Green, several state courts treat jury-polling errors as per se

reversible in the criminal context but not in the civil context.

Ira Green, 775 F.3d at 25 (citing Wiseman, 989 A.2d at 1038 & n.18

(collecting cases)).      In Wiseman, for example, the Connecticut

Supreme Court acknowledged its precedent treating jury-polling

errors as per se reversible in the criminal context.               989 A.2d at

1040 (citing State v. Pare, 755 A.2d 180, 194–96 (Conn. 2000)).

But, state court decisions are not a basis to depart from our

precedent.     For the reasons we have explained, when we consider

                                   - 18 -
the text of each of the relevant federal rules in light of Miranda

and Ira Green, as well as Cabral and Houlihan, we see no basis for

drawing the distinction that some state courts have drawn in

interpreting their own state law rules.

                                    b.

          The SEC does make one additional argument for why Civil

Rule 48(c) errors must be assessed for harmlessness.         It proceeds

as follows: Because courts review for harmlessness the denial of

the right to a civil jury trial under the Seventh Amendment to the

United States Constitution, courts must a fortiori also review for

harmlessness   any   jury-related    errors    within   a   jury   trial,

including the failure to poll each of the jurors individually upon

a party's request.

          The SEC is right that both we and other circuits have

held that a court's denial of the Seventh Amendment right to a

civil jury trial is subject to harmless error analysis.               See

Frappier v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 750 F.3d 91, 98 (1st

Cir. 2014); see also SEC v. Jensen, 835 F.3d 1100, 1108–11 (9th

Cir. 2016); 9 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Fed. Prac.

& Proc. § 2322 (4th ed. 2022).      But, harmlessness review in these

cases takes an unusual, narrow form: assessing whether the case

"[]ever would have reached the jury."         9 Wright & Miller, supra,

§ 2322.   In other words, denials of the right to a jury trial are

harmless only in the "rare instances" in which the judge would

                               - 19 -
have been obliged to grant judgment as a matter of law before the

case was even submitted to the jury.     Id.; see also Frappier, 750

F.3d at 98 (assessing if evidence met standard for directed

verdict). Otherwise, the error will be "presumed harmful" if there

remain any questions that would have been left for the jury to

decide, even if the evidence is otherwise overwhelming.     9 Wright

& Miller, supra, § 2322.

          The SEC has never, either in the District Court or on

appeal, developed any argument for that prejudice standard (or

even acknowledged its unusual nature) or claimed that the evidence

in this case would satisfy it.5    Instead, the SEC has consistently

argued for a different prejudice standard that places the burden

on Sargent to show prejudice.     As a result, the SEC has waived any

argument that this form of harmlessness review should apply, and

we need not decide the issue.     See Zannino, 895 F.2d at 17.

          We affirm.

          5 The SEC did not move for judgment as a matter of law
in the District Court and makes no argument to us that it was
entitled to such relief. We also note that Sargent made two such
motions, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to permit a
reasonable jury to find against him.    Judge Young denied both
motions.

                                - 20 -