MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: GENERAL AND SPECIFIC VERDICT FORMS

The type of the verdict form used at trial is usually not given great consideration at the outset of the lawsuit. However, the form of the verdict form has the potential to play a key role in the ultimate trial outcome because the jury’s decision, and appellate review of that decision, are deeply impacted by the type of the jury verdict form used. The Miami business litigation attorneys of the Mavrick Law Firm represent businesses and their owners in breach of contract litigation and related claims of fraud, non-compete agreement litigation, trade secret litigation, trademark infringement litigation, employment litigation, and other legal disputes in federal and state courts and in arbitration.

There are two types of verdict forms – general and specific. General verdict forms group different claims or elements into a single question posed to the jury. Specific verdict forms separate the claims or elements into distinct questions. An example of a general verdict form interrogatory is “Is the Defendant liable to the Plaintiff on the Plaintiff’s claim for breach of contract?” An example of a specific verdict form is “Is there a valid contract between the Plaintiff and Defendant,” “Did the Defendant breach the contract,” and “Did the Defendant’s contractual breach (if any) damage the Plaintiff?”

Courts have wide discretion when choosing to use general verdict forms rather than specific verdict forms. Fed. R. Civ. P. 49; Miley v. Oppenheimer & Co., 637 F.2d 318 (5th Cir. 1981). Court have found that discretion to be reaching. Garwood v. Int’l Paper Co., 666 F.2d 217 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982). In fact, the discretion is so broad that a trial court can mandate use of a general verdict form even though both parties agree the use a specific verdict form is better. However, a court’s discretion to use a general verdict form is not absolute. In Jones v. Miles, the court determined the trial court committed reversible error when it refused to give a jury instruction on the defendant’s waiver defense and required the parties to use a general verdict form. 656 F.2d 103 (5th Cir. 1981). The court determined the failure to give the waiver instruction combined with use of a general verdict form prohibited the jury from making an adequate finding on the issue.

Jurisprudence indicates special verdict forms are generally preferred over general verdict forms despite the broad discretion given to the court to decide the matter. Onemata Corp. v. Arefin, No. 23-10070, 2024 WL 3666091 (11th Cir. Aug. 6, 2024) (While special verdicts greatly benefit an appellate court’s review of jury findings… the district court has “wide discretion as to whether to require [a] jury to return a special or general verdict”). This is because a special verdict form can help prevent a jury’s verdict from being overtured. Jones, 656 F.2d at 103 (“Had special verdicts been submitted to the jury, this error could have been localized thereby permitting the valid portions of the original verdict to be salvaged.”).

A court’s decision to use a general verdict form can have significant consequences for the parties because it will likely impact post-trial arguments, how those post-trial arguments are presented to the court, and whether those post-trial arguments can be brought at all.  Fin. Info. Techs., LLC v. iControl Sys., USA, LLC, 21 F.4th 1267 (11th Cir. 2021) is a good example. In Fin. Info. Techs., LLC, the plaintiff asserted the defendant misappropriated seven different trade secrets. The court required the use of a general verdict form, and the jury found in favor of the plaintiff. The defendant tried overturning the jury’s verdict post-trial, but was unsuccessful because the plaintiff only had to establish that there was enough evidence to support at least one of the trade secrets at issue. Had a specific verdict form been used, the defendant would have been able to identify the trade secret the jury believed the defendant misappropriated and argued there was insufficient evidence to support the existence of that particular trade secret.

The Miami business litigation lawyers of the Mavrick Law Firm also represent clients in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. This article does not serve as a substitute for legal advice tailored to a particular situation.