Jury deliberations were infected with inadmissible evidence

What can go wrong at trial? Quite a bit, actually. This case is a good example of what happens when people are not paying attention. The jury was able to review evidence during deliberations that was not even admitted at trial. In the end the plaintiff loses and gets nothing.

The case is Zhang v. Zhang, a summary order issued on June 3. This case was brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law, alleging overtime pay violations. This case went to trial, and the jury found that Defendant Zhang was plaintiff's employer; that was a disputed issue at trial. Plaintiff was awarded more than $200,000 in damages. All was good for the plaintiff. Until the bottom fell through.

Here is what happened. After the jury was excused, the district court found a binder of sworn deposition testimony in the jury room. That testimony was never admitted at trial. Some of the testimony was highlighted and had handwritten notes pertaining to the losing defendant's status as an employer. Somehow this material made it into the deliberation room. The district court determined that the depositions transcripts got that far because plaintiff's counsel had given them to the courtroom deputy for the jury's review. How that happened, I do not know. But it happened, and the trial court decided that this inappropriate evidence influenced the jury's verdict on employer liability. A new trial was ordered.

At the second trial, the plaintiff lost on the same issue on which he prevailed at the first trial, employer liability.

The Court of Appeals rejects plaintiff's claim that the district court has improperly ordered a new trial, finding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in doing so. The deposition evidence was directly relevant to the defendant's status as an employer, and of course the conduct of plaintiff's conduct in giving the courtroom deputy this evidence for the jury deliberations was "egregious." At oral argument in the Second Circuit, plaintiff's counsel said it was all a mistake, and to his credit, he opened his argument with a mea culpa. But that does not mean the Court of Appeals has to give him and his client a second chance. The case is over.