Understanding Civil Trials: Judgment, Juries, and Verdicts, Slides of Civil procedure

Download Understanding Civil Trials: Judgment, Juries, and Verdicts and more Slides Civil procedure in PDF only on Docsity! WRAP UP: SUMMARY JUDGMENT • Form of pretrial adjudication • Shifting burdens of production on motion depending on whether moving party bears burden of production at trial Docsity.com APPEALABLITY OF SJ ORDERS • Order denying motion • Order granting motion Docsity.com HYPO • Assume that Bainbridge claimed to be standing right next to where death occurred and testified to having directly witnessed the collision, but D presented 25 witnesses, including a busload of visiting priests, who contradicted Bainbridge’s story. • Should the court direct a verdict for the RR? Docsity.com COMPARE DIRECTED VERDICT AND SJ MOTIONS • Why are courts often more reluctant to grant summary judgment than judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a)? Docsity.com IS A DIRECTED VERDICT CONSTITUTIONAL? • The Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides: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. Docsity.com Rule 40: Assignment of Cases for Trial • District court can formulate its own rules for placing cases on the trial calendar Docsity.com FACTFINDER • The factfinder in a civil trial can be either a jury or the court (the judge). • We will later learn the rules for when there is a right to civil jury trial under the Seventh Amendment • Sometimes judge uses an advisory jury whose views are not binding like a regular jury. • What is the smallest possible size for a jury in a federal civil action? What’s the applicable rule? Docsity.com JURY SELECTION: BIG PICTURE • Jury procedures attempt to uphold the constitutional guarantee in the Due Process Clause that all civil litigants shall have a fair trial • This requires a fair and impartial jury. Docsity.com Race and Peremptory Challenges • Can a peremptory challenge be used to exclude a juror on the basis of race? • Cite authority for your answer. Docsity.com Challenging Peremptory Challenges (Batson test) • What should a party/attorney do if s/he believes that a peremptory challenge is based on race? • Is the Batson test effective? Docsity.com Batson Rule Extended to Gender-Based Peremptory Challenges • In J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127 (1994) (violation of Equal Protection Clause of Amendment XIV) • There is a question as to whether other groups should be entitled to Batson protection (Catholics? Deaf people? Hispanics? etc.) Docsity.com EVIDENCE: RULE 43 • Types of evidence include: • 2. Deposition testimony • 3. Documents • 4. Other relevant items • Elaborate rules of evidence apply to determine what is and what is not admissible • There are Federal Rules of Evidence • Many states follow these federal rules Docsity.com CLOSING ARGUMENTS • Because evidence is presented in a piecemeal fashion, it is hard for the jury to get a coherent picture of the case • The purpose of closing arguments is to give the jury such a coherent picture of one party’s case Docsity.com BIG PICTURE: Judicial Control of Juries in Jury Trials- • 1. Jury Instructions • 2. Special Verdicts • 3. Bifurcation/Trifurcation • 4. Remittitur/Additur • 5. J.N.O.V. • 6. Order for New Trial • 7. Order to Vacate Judgment Docsity.com VERDICTS • What is a general verdict? • What is a special verdict? SEE FRCP 49 • What is a general verdict with interrogatories? SEE FRCP 49 • What are the advantages and disadvantages of special verdicts? • Sometimes the judge polls the jury to make sure the verdict is agreed on by the required number of jurors • How many jurors must agree on the verdict in federal court? SEE FRCP 48 Docsity.com JURY DEADLOCK • What happens if the jury cannot agree on a verdict? Docsity.com BIFURCATION • FRCP 42(b) • Bifurcation: liability and damages • Trifurcation: causation, liability, and damages • What should a court take into consideration in determining whether to bifurcate a trial? • Must birfucated trials be tried before the same jury? • What are the advantages of bifurcation? • What are the disadvantages of bifurcation? Docsity.com