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Judd v. Drezga11/5/2004
t of a jury trial, but only the process of having one. On this theory, the legislature could establish maximum (or minimum) recoveries in virtually every civil case without implicating the nature of the underlying right to jury trial. Such an argument, in my view, is absurd. Thomas Jefferson said, "I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." 3 The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 71 (H.A. Washington ed., 1861), quoted in Parklane Hosiery v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 344 n.10 (1979) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting). Speaking of the jury's fundamental role in our legal structure, the United States Supreme Court has observed: "The founders of our Nation considered the right of trial by jury in civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of the sovereign, or, it might be added, to the judiciary." Parklane, 439 U.S. at 343. Even earlier, in 1935, the Court stated that " aintenance of the jury as a fact-finding body is of such importance and occupies so firm a place in our history and jurisprudence that any seeming curtailment of the right to a jury trial should be scrutinized with the utmost care." Dimick v. Schiedt, 293 U.S. 474, 486 (1935).
In International Harvester Credit Corp. v. Pioneer Tractor & Implement, Inc., 626 P.2d 418 (Utah 1981), we described the institution of civil jury trial as "deeply rooted in our basic democratic institutions and so important in the administration of justice, not only as a buffer between the state and the sovereign citizens of the state, but also as a means for rendering justice between citizens." Id. at 420. Of what use is such a right if the legislature has the power to nullify the jury's function by imposing arbitrary limits on the jury's impact on the result of a case? Presumably, if the legislature declared that, in actions for defamation, any damages awarded by the jury should be reduced to the sum of $1.00, the majority, under its logic here, would uphold the statute as not affecting the right to a jury trial. Likewise, I suppose, if the legislature enacted a statute providing that whenever a jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs in any tort action, the verdict was to be reduced to zero and the claim dismissed, the majority might conclude that the trial court was merely applying the "law" to a jury finding rather than intruding on the process of a jury trial in violation of the Utah Constitution.
This court declared as early as 1896 that the determination of damages, including non-economic damages, is part and parcel of the function of the civil jury:
The amount which the injured party ought to recover is referred to the sound discretion of the jury; and the elements or factors which should be taken into consideration are the plaintiff's injured feelings and tarnished reputation, the nature of the imputation, and the character, condition, and influence of the parties as they may be shown by the evidence.
Fenstermaker v. Tribune Publ'g Co., 45 P. 1097, 1099 (Utah 1896).
It is thus clear that the constitutional right to a jury trial fully included the jury's determination of damages "In cases of tort, like the one at bar, it is one of the fundamental principles of the law that the injured party is entitled to recover fair and adequate compensation" in the form of damages. Rosenthal v. Harker, 189 P. 666, 667 (Utah 1920). And, " hen the matter of damages is in dispute, it is an issue upon which the parties are entitled to a jury trial, the same as on other disputed issues of fact." Mel Hardman Prods., Inc. v. Robinson, 604 P.2d 913, 918 (Utah 1979). "The a
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