08-2467 & 08-2595 Duran v. Town of Cicero

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Civil Procedure
Judgment; waiver

Where a jury verdict improperly awarded double recovery, it was error for the court to hold that the defendant waived any objection by not objecting to the verdict form that gave rise to the judgment.

“A motion to alter or amend a judgment under Rule 59(e) may be granted to correct a manifest error of law or fact. Harrington v. City of Chicago, 433 F.3d 542, 546 (7th Cir. 2006). A judgment that can be read to allow a plaintiff to recover twice for the same injury contains a manifest error of law. The Town’s Rule 59(e) motion proposed nothing more than an obvious fix for a glaring double-recovery problem in the judgment.”

“In denying the Rule 59(e) motion, the district court held that the Town had waived any right to relief by not objecting at trial to the verdict form or jury instructions that gave rise to the confusing judgment. This waiver rationale misses the point. True, the Town bears some responsibility for the flawed special-verdict form. Still, ‘it’s the judge’s responsibility to get the verdict form right, not just pick one side’s proposal or the other’s.’ Thomas, 604 F.3d at 315 (Sykes, J., dissenting). In any event, the Town’s Rule 59(e) motion was directed at a legal error in the judgment (not the verdict form), and here there can be no principled disagreement that the judgment fails to reflect what everyone understood from the beginning: that the Town would be jointly liable (if liable at all) to any plaintiff who prevailed on a state tort claim against an individual officer, whether identified or unidentified. The Town did not waive this legal point about the nature of its liability. The Town’s timely Rule 59(e) motion identified a manifest error of law that surfaced only after judgment was entered. See Cnty. of McHenry v. Ins. Co. of the West, 438 F.3d 813, 819 (7th Cir. 2006).”

Affirmed in part, and Vacated in part.

08-2467 & 08-2595 Duran v. Town of Cicero

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Grady, J., Sykes, J.

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