Cabral v. Sullivan, Civ. A. No. 86-0259-Y.

• Decision Date: 19 February 1991
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 86-0259-Y.
• Citation: 757 F. Supp. 107
• Parties: Francisco CABRAL and Maria Cabral, Plaintiffs, v. William SULLIVAN and Donald Breault, Individually and in their official capacities as police officers of the City of Fall River, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

757 F. Supp. 107

Francisco CABRAL and Maria Cabral, Plaintiffs, v. William SULLIVAN and Donald Breault, Individually and in their official capacities as police officers of the City of Fall River, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 86-0259-Y.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

February 19, 1991.

Henry F. Owens, III, Owens & Associated, Boston, Mass., for plaintiffs.

Paul Desmarais, Fall River, Mass., George Deptula, Berlin, Clarey, Deptula & Levee, Boston, Mass., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YOUNG, District Judge.

The plaintiffs Francisco and Maria Cabral here move for a new trial following a jury verdict for the defendants in their civil rights action against police officers William Sullivan and Donald Breault. The Cabrals' counsel raises but a single ground in the motion for a new trial, viz. that this Court knowingly violated Local Rule 48.1¹ and allowed jurors and alternates to deliberate together without the agreement of the parties. Even in the absence of any demonstrable prejudice, plaintiffs' counsel claims that the Cabrals are entitled to a new trial.

I. Factual Background.

Because the factual allegations of counsel are correct, it is important to limn the factual background in some detail to understand how the Local Rule came to be violated.

Local Rule 48.1 provides that:

In all cases, the jury shall consist of six (6) persons, unless before a verdict is returned the parties or their respective counsel stipulate in writing or on the record with the approval of the court that a verdict may be returned by a jury of fewer or more than six (6) persons.

The Rules of Court Committee of the Civil Litigation Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association describes the local rules requirement of a written or recorded stipulation as "the built-in safeguard of requiring agreement of parties to reduce or increase the number of jurors." Comment to Predecessor Local Rule 23 in Massachusetts Rules of Court 757 (West 1990).

It is the routine practice of this session of the court to empanel ten jurors in each civil case, complying with Local Rule 48.1 by securing the agreement of counsel at the outset of the case to permit the four alternates to deliberate with the standard six-person jury. Routinely, the Court broaches this subject at the final pretrial conference held in the lobby, usually off the record, just before jury empanelment and then confirms the agreement of counsel on the record in court at the time the first round of preemptory challenges is to be exercised during voir dire. Thus, in this session of the court, ten jurors are empaneled on every civil case. If counsel agree, all ten deliberate at the close of the case. If any counsel demurs, the last four jurors are tolled off as alternates once the case is committed to the jury and they stand in reserve while a six-person jury deliberates to a verdict. That is the general practice in this session and it conforms to the requirements of Local Rule 48.1. See generally W. Schwarzer, Reforming Jury Trials, 132 F.R.D. 575, 581-82 (1991).

In this case, to ensure maximum utilization of the jury pool, the Court proceeded to empanel four juries of ten persons each in the course of a single morning. Three juries were stacked up to try cases seriatim in this session and the fourth was sent to try a case before the Honorable Bailey Aldrich, Senior Circuit Judge for the First Circuit, who graciously devotes a significant amount of time to trying jury cases in this District.

In the instant case, defense counsel had inquired of the Deputy Courtroom Clerk, Katherine Hart Duffey, Esq., concerning the Court's practices during empanelment. Ms. Duffey informed counsel of the Court's practice of empaneling ten jurors and having all the jurors deliberate. Plaintiffs' counsel made no such inquiry, assuming that the Court would select the alternates just prior to the commencement of deliberations. Following an off the record final pretrial conference, empanelment proceeded without incident and the trial commenced. The trial lasted seven days. As to the conduct of William Sullivan the evidence was sharply disputed, presenting a quintessential jury issue. As to Donald Breault, it was the Cabrals' theory that he failed to take reasonable steps to protect Francisco Cabral from William Sullivan's use of excessive force.² While there was sufficient evidence to send this issue to the jury, the case against Breault was thin at best.

At the close of the trial, this Court charged the jury without making any reference to the selection of alternates or their role once deliberations commenced. Plaintiffs' counsel took no objection to the charge in this regard. Thereupon all ten jurors were sent to the jury room to commence their deliberations. Just as soon as the door to the jury room had closed behind them, Plaintiffs' counsel inquired concerning the Court's intent to select four alternates.

Believing in good faith that the matter had been covered during the final pretrial conference and confirmed on the record during empanelment, I said that all counsel had agreed to a jury of ten persons. Plaintiffs' counsel disagreed. Defense counsel, having understood the Court's practice from private inquiry of the Courtroom Deputy Clerk, could not recall whether the matter had been bruited with counsel on the record or not. Likewise, the Courtroom Deputy Clerk could not say whether or not the express agreement of counsel had been secured in this particular case. Since I believed that I had followed my normal practice and that, in any event, no prejudice would inure to any party from the deliberations of a ten person jury, I stood my ground, overruled the objection of Plaintiffs' counsel, and recessed to await the jury verdict. This recess was taken at approximately 12:30 p.m.

At 1:00 p.m. I left the courthouse to have lunch with Judge Aldrich where I learned, among other things, that the jury which I had empaneled for him suffered from the same alleged infirmity as Plaintiffs' counsel had raised in the instant case. That is, counsel before Judge Aldrich had informed him that there was no agreement that the ten person jury I had empaneled for him might all deliberate together. Judge Aldrich promptly separated out four alternates and permitted six jurors to deliberate. This was interesting news indeed; it set me thinking that perhaps in the press of empaneling four juries I had not secured the agreement of counsel to allow all ten jurors to deliberate.

My impressions were confirmed when I returned to the courthouse. Donald Womack, the Court Reporter in this session, on his own initiative had reviewed his stenographic notes of the empanelment and explained that, if the parties had agreed, it could have only have been during the off the record lobby conference as there was no express agreement on the record. What's more, the Courtroom Deputy Clerk on her own initiative had delayed the jury deliberations until my return from lunch so that there was still time to separate out four alternates. Despite my serendipitous lunch with Judge Aldrich and the superb staff work which enabled me to correct the error, regrettably I concluded that no prejudice could inure to any party and gave directions that the deliberations were to commence. The Defendants' verdict with which the Cabrals take issue was the result.

II. What Now?

At the outset, it is important to note that no responsibility for what has happened attaches to either counsel. While it might have been the better practice for the Plaintiffs' counsel to have inquired of the Clerk as to the Court's practices in empaneling a jury, it is the responsibility of the Court to establish an appropriate record of compliance with Local Rule 48.1. Moreover, counsel for all parties in this case are experienced federal practitioners and had every right to expect compliance with the Local Rules. Nor can Plaintiffs' counsel be faulted for not objecting to the omission of references to alternates in the Court's charge. Counsel could reasonably expect that the Court would separate the alternates at the very end of the trial proceeding. See United States v. Rauch, 574 F.2d 706, 707 (2d Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 832, 99 S.Ct. 110, 58 L.Ed.2d 126 cert. denied, 439 U.S. 893, 99 S.Ct. 250, 58 L.Ed.2d 238 (1978); Manual for Complex Litigation Second 142 n. 45 (1986); W. Schwarzer, Reforming Jury Trials at 582. In fact, Plaintiffs' counsel promptly objected just as soon as it became evident that the Court was sending all ten jurors into the jury room. Likewise, it is important to note that the conduct of defense counsel can in no way be characterized by overreaching or unfairly taking advantage of the Court's mistake. Defense counsel, familiar with and content with the Court's practice of seating ten jurors, genuinely could not remember whether an agreement between counsel had been made a matter of record and so reported to the Court upon its inquiry.

The issue is thus starkly presented. The Court has made a mistake. Indeed, it is a knowing mistake albeit based upon a good faith belief that no prejudice would inure to any party from the violation of the Local Rule. In light of this error, the easiest course would be to order a new trial.³ There is no way that any party can demonstrate the existence of prejudice by virtue of having an improper number of jurors deliberate.⁴

This Court recognizes that as "litigants may believe legitimately that the size of a jury can affect the outcome ... , it is important to the litigants views of the fairness of the system that the jury size be determined before the jury retires or the verdict is announced." Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Delaware, 865 F.2d 1408, 1420 n. 17 (3d Cir. 1988). Contrary to this Court's supposition, however, at least one Circuit has held that a per se rule of reversal is appropriate in civil cases where alternate jurors are allowed to retire with the deliberating...