Dietz v. Bouldin

• Decision Date: 09 June 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15–458.,15–458.
• Parties: Rocky DIETZ, petitioner v. Hillary BOULDIN.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

136 S.Ct. 1885

195 L.Ed.2d 161

Rocky DIETZ, petitioner

v.Hillary BOULDIN.

No. 15–458.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 26, 2016.

Decided June 9, 2016.

Kannon K. Shanmugam, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.

Neal K. Katyal, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

John F. Bash for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of the Court, supporting the respondent.

Geoffrey C. Angel, Angel Law Firm, Bozeman, MT, Kannon K. Shanmugam, Allison B. Jones, Nicholas T. Matich, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, DC, for petitioner.

Leila K. Mongan, Hogan Lovells US LLP, San Francisco, CA, Jesse Beaudette, Bohyer, Erickson, Beaudette & Tranel, P.C., Missoula, MT, Neal Kumar Katyal, Frederick Liu, Colleen E. Roh Sinzdak, Daniel J.T. Schuker, Hogan Lovells US LLP, Washington, DC, for respondent.

Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case, a jury returned a legally impermissible verdict. The trial judge did not realize the error until shortly after he excused the jury. He brought the jury back and ordered them to deliberate again to correct the mistake. The question before us is whether a federal district court can recall a jury it has discharged, or whether the court can remedy the error only by ordering a new trial.

This Court now holds that a federal district court has the inherent power to rescind a jury discharge order and recall a jury for further deliberations after identifying an error in the jury's verdict. Because the potential of tainting jurors and the jury process after discharge is extraordinarily high, however, this power is limited in duration and scope, and must be exercised carefully to avoid any potential prejudice.

I

Petitioner Rocky Dietz was driving through an intersection in Bozeman, Montana, when Hillary Bouldin ran the red light and T-boned Dietz. As a result of the accident, Dietz suffered injuries to his lower back that caused him severe pain. He sought physical therapy, steroid injections, and other medications to treat his pain. Dietz sued Bouldin for negligence. Bouldin removed the case to Federal District Court. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1441.

At trial, Bouldin admitted that he was at fault for the accident and that Dietz was injured as a result. Bouldin also stipulated that Dietz' medical expenses of $10,136 were reasonable and necessary as a result of the collision. The only disputed issue at trial for the jury to resolve was whether Dietz was entitled to damages above $10,136.

During deliberations, the jury sent the judge a note asking: " ‘Has the $10,136 medical expenses been paid; and if so, by whom?’ " App. 36. The court discussed the note with the parties' attorneys and told them he was unsure whether the jurors understood that their verdict could not be less than that stipulated amount, and that a mistrial would be required if the jury did not return a verdict of at least $10,136. The judge, however, with the consent of both parties, told the jury that the information they sought was not relevant to the verdict.

The jury returned a verdict in Dietz' favor but awarded him $0 in damages. The judge thanked the jury for its service and ordered them "discharged," telling the jurors they were "free to go." App. to Pet. for Cert. 25a. The jurors gathered their things and left the courtroom.

A few minutes later, the court ordered the clerk to bring the jurors back. Speaking with counsel outside the jury's presence, the court explained that it had "just stopped the jury from leaving the building," after realizing that the $0 verdict was not "legally possible in view of stipulated damages exceeding $10,000." Id., at 26a. The court suggested two alternatives: (1) order a new trial or (2) reempanel the jurors, instructing them to award at least the stipulated damages, and ordering them to deliberate anew.

Dietz' attorney objected to reempaneling the discharged jurors, arguing that the jury was no longer capable of returning a fair and impartial verdict. The court reiterated that none of the jurors had left the building, and asked the clerk whether any had even left the floor where the courtroom was located. The clerk explained that only one juror had left the building to get a hotel receipt and bring it back.

Before the jurors returned, the judge told the parties that he planned to order the jury to deliberate again and reach a different verdict. The judge explained that he would "hate to just throw away the money and time that's been expended in this trial." Id ., at 28a. When the jurors returned to the courtroom, the judge questioned them as a group and confirmed that they had not spoken to anyone about the case.

The judge explained to the jurors the mistake in not awarding the stipulated damages. He informed the jurors that he was reempaneling them and would ask them to start over with clarifying instructions. He asked the jurors to confirm that they understood their duty and to return the next morning to deliberate anew. The next day, the reassembled jury returned a verdict awarding Dietz $15,000 in damages.

On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed. 794 F.3d 1093 (2015). The court held that a district court could reempanel the jury shortly after dismissal as long as during the period of dismissal, the jurors were not exposed to any outside influences that would compromise their ability to reconsider the verdict fairly. This Court granted Dietz' petition for a writ of certiorari to resolve confusion in the Courts of Appeals on whether and when a federal district court has the authority to recall a jury after discharging it. 577 U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 896, 193 L.Ed.2d 788 (2016). See Wagner v. Jones, 758 F.3d 1030, 1034–1035 (C.A.8 2014), cert. denied, 575 U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1529, 191 L.Ed.2d 558 (2015) ; United States v. Figueroa, 683 F.3d 69, 72–73 (C.A.3 2012) ; United States v. Rojas, 617 F.3d 669, 677–678 (C.A.2 2010) ; United States v. Marinari, 32 F.3d 1209, 1214 (C.A.7 1994) ; Summers v. United States, 11 F.2d 583, 585–587 (C.A.4 1926).

II

A

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure set out many of the specific powers of a federal district court. But they are not all encompassing. They make no provision, for example, for the power of a judge to hear a motion in limine,¹ a motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens,² or many other standard procedural devices trial courts around the country use every day in service of Rule 1's paramount command: the just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of disputes.

Accordingly, this Court has long recognized that a district court possesses inherent powers that are "governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases." Link v. Wabash R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630–631, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962) ; see also United States v. Hudson, 7 Cranch 32, 34, 3 L.Ed. 259 (1812). Although this Court has never precisely delineated the outer boundaries of a district court's inherent powers, the Court has recognized certain limits on those powers.

First, the exercise of an inherent power must be a "reasonable response to the problems and needs" confronting the court's fair administration of justice. Degen v. United States, 517 U.S. 820, 823–824, 116 S.Ct. 1777, 135 L.Ed.2d 102 (1996). Second, the exercise of an inherent power cannot be contrary to any express grant of or limitation on the district court's power contained in a rule or statute. See id., at 823, 116 S.Ct. 1777 ; Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 83(b) (districts courts can "regulate [their] practice in any manner consistent with federal law"); see, e.g., Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, 487 U.S. 250, 254, 108 S.Ct. 2369, 101 L.Ed.2d 228 (1988) (holding that a district court cannot invoke its inherent power to circumvent the harmless-error inquiry prescribed by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a) ). These two principles—an inherent power must be a reasonable response to a specific problem and the power cannot contradict any express rule or statute—support the conclusion that a district judge has a limited inherent power to rescind a discharge order and recall a jury in a civil case where the court discovers an error in the jury's verdict.

First, rescinding a discharge order and recalling the jury can be a reasonable response to correcting an error in the jury's verdict in certain circumstances. In the normal course, when a court recognizes an error in a verdict before it discharges the jury, it has the express power to give the jury a curative instruction and order them to continue deliberating. See Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 51(b)(3) ("The court ... may instruct the jury at any time before the jury is discharged"); 4 L. Sand et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions–Civil ¶ 78.01, Instruction 78–10, p. 78–31 (2015) (Sand) (when a jury returns an inconsistent verdict, "[r]esubmitting the verdict ... to resolve the inconsistencies is often the preferable course"). The decision to recall a jury to give them what would be an identical predischarge curative instruction could be, depending on the circumstances, similarly reasonable.

This conclusion is buttressed by this Court's prior cases affirming a district court's inherent authority in analogous circumstances. For example, the Court has recognized that a district court ordinarily has the power to modify or rescind its orders at any point prior to final judgment in a civil case. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America v. United States, 320 U.S. 1, 47–48, 63 S.Ct. 1393, 87 L.Ed. 1731 (1943) ; see also Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 54(b) (district court can revise partial final judgment order absent certification of finality); Fernandez v. United States, 81 S.Ct. 642, 644, 5 L.Ed.2d 683 (1961) (Harlan, J., in chambers) (district court has inherent power to revoke order granting bail).

Here, the District Court rescinded its order discharging the jury before it issued a final judgment. Rescinding the discharge order restores the legal status quo...