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Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U.S. 208 (1998)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U.S. 208 (1998)
Hetzel v. Prince William County No. 97-954 Decided March 23, 1998 523 U.S. 208
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
A jury awarded petitioner $750,000 on her claims against respondent county under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the District Court reduced the damages to $500,000. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the liability finding, but set aside the damages award as grossly excessive and remanded for recalculation. The District Court then awarded petitioner $50,000. She filed a motion for a new trial in which she declined the award, arguing that, in reducing her damages, the Fourth Circuit had effectively offered her a remittitur, which entitled her to a new trial under the Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial. The District Court agreed, concluding that when a court finds a jury’s verdict excessive and reduces it, the plaintiff has a right either to accept the reduced award or to have a new trial on the damages issue. The Fourth Circuit then granted respondents’; mandamus petition and stayed the scheduled retrial, noting that its prior decision had ordered the District Court to recalculate the damages "and to enter final judgment thereon."
Held: the Fourth Circuit violated petitioner’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. Because the Amendment prohibits the reexamination of facts determined by a jury, a court has no authority, upon a motion for a new trial, "according to its own estimate of the amount of damages which the plaintiff ought to have recovered, to enter an absolute judgment for any other sum than that assessed by the jury." Kennon v. Gilmer, 131 U.S. 22, 29. In determining that the evidence did not support the jury’s general damages award and in ordering the District Court to recalculate the damages, the appeals court imposed a remittitur. The District Court correctly afforded petitioner the option of a new trial when it entered judgment for the reduced damages.
Certiorari granted; reversed.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U.S. 208 (1998) in 523 U.S. 208 Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=RT3DLY6X239CGZ3.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U.S. 208 (1998), in 523 U.S. 208, Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=RT3DLY6X239CGZ3.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U.S. 208 (1998). cited in 1998, 523 U.S. 208. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=RT3DLY6X239CGZ3.
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