Does The Seventh
Amendment Matter?:
Question posed to U.S. Supreme Court
in context of appellate review of jury awards
[Posted
January 22, 2001]
Does the
Seventh Amendment matter?
A little-noticed
case, District of Columbia v. Tri County Industries, No. 99-1953,
posed that question to the U.S. Supreme Court in the context of appellate
review of jury awards.
Tri County
won a $4.5 million award, primarily for lost income, after the District
wrongfully revoked the company's operating permit for a site to treat contaminated
soil. The district court set the verdict aside as excessive, but the court
of appeals reinstated it. The D.C. Circuit said that it reviewed orders
denying new trial for abuse of discretion, but that orders overturning the
jury's verdict and granting a new trial warrant "a more searching inquiry."
The Supreme
Court granted review, and AAJ argued as amicus that the Seventh Amendment
justified more careful review of rulings which interfere with the jury's
verdict. Several Justices indicated their agreement with the Seventh Amendment
issue, but doubted that the "more searching inquiry" actually affected the
outcome in this case.
On Jan.
22, 2001, the Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.
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