Filed: Mar. 08, 2005
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: forfeited in the district court.1, The general verdict prevents Popsie from showing what part if, any of the jury's award was for future (as opposed to past) lost, income, and also prevents him from ascertaining whether a portion, or all of the award was for Siciliani's emotional distress.
Not for Publication in West's Federal Reporter
Citation Limited Pursuant to 1st Cir. Loc. R. 32.3
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 04-1907
MARGARET SICILIANI,
Plaintiff, Appellee,
v.
RAYMOND POPSIE,
a/k/a RAYMOND F. POPSIE,
Defendant, Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE
[Hon. George Z. Singal, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Boudin, Chief Judge,
Selya and Lynch, Circuit Judges.
John S. Campbell with whom Campbell & Associates, P.A. was on
brief for appellant.
Patrick J. Mellor with whom Perkins Olson, P.A. was on brief
for appellee.
March 8, 2005
Per Curiam. In April 2003, Margaret Siciliani brought
suit against Raymond Popsie and his employer, claiming that Popsie
had made sexual advances and assaulted her in his office on
September 13, 2002. In April 2004, after a two-day trial in
Maine's federal district court, a jury returned a verdict for
Siciliani on her assault and battery claim, awarding her $23,796 in
compensatory damages--later reduced to $5,796 plus costs to account
for a settlement with Popsie's employer–but no punitive damages.
Popsie appeals, claiming that the evidence established
"no rational connection" between the assault and Siciliani's loss
of employment; that the district court erroneously excluded
testimony about the events leading to Siciliani's termination from
her job following the assault; and that one juror's prior
experience with assault was ill-addressed by the district court and
tainted the jury verdict. Popsie argues that these errors--alone
or in combination--merit judgment as a matter of law on Siciliani's
claim for lost wages and a new trial on her remaining claims.
Popsie has forfeited his challenge to the connection
between Siciliani's assault and her subsequent loss of employment.
Popsie's trial counsel moved for a directed verdict at the close of
Siciliani's case based on the indeterminate amount of her lost
wages, but made no mention of the theory now advanced on appeal--
namely, that the connection between Siciliani's assault and her
subsequent loss of employment was insufficiently proven. The
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motion was renewed neither at the close of the evidence nor after
the jury's verdict. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 50.
The situation presented here is not the rare "miscarriage
of justice" that would induce us to address a claim otherwise
forfeited in the district court. Correa v. Hosp. S.F.,
69 F.3d
1184, 1196 (1st Cir. 1995). Siciliani produced ample evidence of
both her assault and the effect of the assault on her subsequent
job performance, as well as sufficient testimony to document the
effect of her job loss on future income. The resulting damages
award was moderate. The mere fact that the jury might have based
that award on future lost wages that were more tenuously supported-
-a possibility that Popsie suggests but cannot prove due to the
jury's general verdict1--does not, without more, provide sufficient
reason to address Popsie's claim of error when it was not raised
below.
Popsie's challenge to the alleged restrictions placed on
defense testimony meets a similar fate. He complains of the
district court's unwillingness to permit evidence of Siciliani's
difficulties at work after September 13, 2002. In particular, he
points to four objections to Popsie's direct examination of
Siciliani's human resources manager, three of which were sustained
1
The general verdict prevents Popsie from showing what part if
any of the jury's award was for future (as opposed to past) lost
income, and also prevents him from ascertaining whether a portion
or all of the award was for Siciliani's emotional distress.
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by the court and the fourth of which prompted defense counsel to
rephrase.
Whether much can be made of these objections in the first
place is unclear (at least two can be read simply as requests for
clarification), but in any event Popsie's counsel failed to make an
offer of proof as to the testimony allegedly excluded and our
review is thus for plain error. See Fed. R. Evid. 103(a)(2); see
also O'Rourke v. City of Providence,
235 F.3d 713, 735 (1st Cir.
2001). Again, we see no miscarriage of justice sufficient to merit
disturbing the trial court's ruling.
Popsie's complaint of juror taint also fails. During
voir dire, potential jurors were asked whether they or someone
close to them had ever had an experience involving assault or
sexual assault. During deliberations, the jury suggested that one
juror should speak with the district judge regarding possible prior
experiences. The judge conducted an inquiry in the presence of
both lawyers; the juror stated that "perception is everything,"
but further said that she believed she had answered the voir dire
question properly and that neither she nor any of her immediate
family members or friends had been involved in an assault or sexual
assault of the type alleged by Siciliani. Asked whether she felt
she could deliberate fairly and impartially, her unequivocal
response was "absolutely."
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We see no error whatever. The district judge conducted
an inquiry to respond to the possibility that the juror had
inaccurately answered a question on voir dire or might be biased.
The juror's responses gave no cause for further concern. Popsie
presents no evidence that the juror had answered the voir dire
questions inaccurately. The court was under no obligation to go
further.
Affirmed.
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