Background
One hundred and twenty local governments in West Virginia sued Express Scripts, alleging that the company contributed to an opioid oversupply and created a public nuisance. The plaintiffs sought an abatement fund to remove the oversupply and pay for addiction treatment, education, and community rehabilitation. Express Scripts demanded a jury trial, but the district court denied the request, characterizing the relief as equitable. Express Scripts then petitioned the Fourth Circuit for a writ of mandamus to vindicate its Seventh Amendment right.
The court’s reasoning
The court applied the two-part historical test for Seventh Amendment jury trial rights. First, it examined the nature of the remedy sought. The court found that while equity courts in 1791 could order the abatement of a nuisance, they could not award compensation for downstream harms. The relief sought here included funding for addiction treatment and rehabilitation, which constitutes legal damages. Because the remedy was legal in nature, the court concluded that the suit would have been heard in a court of law at the Founding. The court noted that the historical-analog inquiry was inconclusive but unnecessary given the dispositive nature of the remedy analysis.
The Seventh Amendment entitles litigants to a jury trial unless the claim would have been heard, and the remedy awarded, by courts of equity at the Founding.
What it means going forward
Express Scripts is entitled to a jury trial on the public nuisance claim. The district court’s order for a bench trial is vacated insofar as it denied the jury demand. The court declined to address the propriety of a statewide trial order, leaving that issue for direct appeal if necessary.
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