The Right to Jury Trial

1
The Right to Jury Trial

• Civil Procedure Mod 7
• November 4, 2002

2
The Seventh Amendment
In suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise
re-examined in any Court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.
3
The Seventh Amendment Key Points

• Pertains to civil cases in federal courts
• Applies to suits at common law
• Preserves rather than creates the jury trial
  right

4
Other Sources of the Right to Trial by Jury

• State court actions at law State Constitutions.
  No federal guarantee
• Federal criminal prosecutions Sixth Amendment
• State criminal prosecutions Sixth Amendment,
  incorporated into the due process clause of the
  14th Amendment

5
Preserving the right to jury trial in suits at
common law
No Admiralty Claims
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Preserving the right to jury trial in suits at
common law
The Central Question Was the instant claim, or
if no such claim existed, some close analog,
treated as a legal, rather than equitable claim
in the English common law courts in 1791?
7
Prototypic Legal Claims

• Breach of contract
• Action to recover on a debt
• Trespass to the person
• Trespass to real property or chattel
• Defamation
• Other torts

8
Prototypic Equity Claims

• Action for Specific Performance
• Family Law or Dependency Proceedings
• Probate Proceedings
• Actions requesting injunctive or other equitable
  forms of relief, as opposed to actions for
  compensatory and/or punitive damages

9
Defining Suits at Common Law The Role of
Remedies

• Equity courts developed out of situations in
  which there was no adequate remedy at law.
• After merger of law and equity, the available
  remedies associated with a claim for relief
  largely define whether the claim sounds in law or
  in equity.

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Legal vs. Equitable Remedies
Legal Remedies
Equitable Remedies
Legal Remedies
Equitable Remedies

• Compensatory Damages, including special damages,
  general damages, damages for pain and suffering,
  etc
• Punitive Damages

• Injunctions
• Restitution
• Back pay, front pay, and other make-whole
  monetary relief

11
Remember

• The right to jury trial may be constitutional or
  statutory in origin.
• Congress may supplement the right to jury trial
  in specific statutory enactments.
• So.dont forget to check the statute!

12
Asserting (or blowing) the Right to Jury Trial in
Civil Cases

• FRCP Rule 38 specifies requirements related to
  asserting right to jury trial.
• 38(b) Party seeking jury trial must serve a
  demand in writing w/in 10 days after service of
  the last pleading directed to the issue as to
  which the right exists.
• 38(d) Failure to timely and properly demand
  constitutes waiver.

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A Right to Precisely What?The Respective Roles
of Judge and Jury
Facts
Law
14
Respective Roles of Judge Jury
The Judge
The Jury

• Decides all motions
• Rules on Admissibility of Evidence
• Decides when there is a genuine factual dispute
• Instructs the jury re applicable law
• Resolves disputed issues of law
• Can take case from jury in limited circumstances

• Makes credibility determinations
• Draws inferences from evidence
• Weighs evidence
• Resolves disputed issues of fact
• Renders a verdict by applying judges
  instructions to the evidence

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Sequence of Events

• Judge rules on motions for summary judgment
• Pretrial conference Rulings on admissibility of
  evidence submission of proposed jury
  instructions
• Jury selection
• Opening statements
• Presentation of cases-in-chief, rebuttals
• Dispositive Motions
• Closing Arguments
• Instruction
• Deliberation
• Verdict
• Jury Discharged
• Post-Verdict Motions
• Appeal
• Entry of Judgment