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25. Is the appellate court likely to uphold the trial court's refusal to modify the jury instruction?
A patent holder brought a patent infringement action in federal court against a licensee of the patent and the case went to a jury trial. At trial, the patent holder failed to object to a proposed jury instruction both before the court instructed the jury and before the jury retired to consider the verdict. During jury deliberations, however, the patent holder objected to the jury instructions as being erroneous. The jury then returned a verdict for the licensee. The patent holder filed an appeal claiming the trial court erred in not modifying the jury instruction following his objection.
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In order to raise the inadequacy of instructions on appeal, a party who wishes to make an objection to the instructions must do so before the jury retires or, in the event that «a party was not informed of an instruction or action on a request before that opportunity to object, and the party objects promptly after learning that the instruction or request will be, or has been, given or refused.» Fed. R. Evid. 51(b)-(c).
A is correct. The appellate court is likely to uphold the trial court's ruling because the patent holder failed to object in a timely manner. FRCP 51(c)(2) requires that a party object at the first opportunity to do so, including when they learn of the proposed instructions. Here, the court offered the proposed instructions and the patent holder did not object, rendering the subsequent objection during deliberations untimely. By not raising a timely objection, the patent holder did not properly preserve the claim for purposes of being heard on appeal.
B is incorrect. This answer reaches the correct answer with the wrong reasoning. Although the appellate court will likely uphold the trial court's ruling, it is not because the Federal Rules require an objection to instructions be made before the closing arguments and issuing of the instructions to the jury. Rather, the objection must be made at the first opportunity, and in this case, the patent holder learned of the proposed instructions before they were given to the jury, which is when the objection should have been made.
C is incorrect. Although the patent holder objected during deliberations, by that point in the proceedings, the objection had already been waived. This is because the patent holder was given an opportunity to object to the jury instructions prior to the jury receiving the instructions. By failing to object in a timely manner as required by FRCP 51(c), the patent holder waived his objection.
D is incorrect. This is an incorrect statement of the law. There are, in fact, time limits on when objections to jury instructions may be made in order to be heard on appeal. Parties must object to instructions at the first opportunity to do so, or before the jury retires. By failing to object to the proposed jury instructions when they were presented to the parties, the patent holder waived his objection.