New trial granted for Republican suing U of I law school

A Republican who sued the University of Iowa law school over claims of political discrimination is getting a new trial, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today.

Teresa Wagner in 2009 sued former law school dean Carolyn Jones, claiming she was passed over for a promotion to teach legal writing because of her political beliefs and work with groups such as the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee. A federal jury in Davenport in 2012 chose to rule in favor of Jones on the political discrimination charge, but could not decide whether Wagner's equal protection rights were violated.

The jury's indecision led U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Shields to declare a mistrial on the second count. However, judges with the appeals court found that Shields improperly questioned jurors about their decision after he'd initially dismissed them, according to the ruling.

Shields declared a mistrial after jurors told him that they would not be able to reach a verdict after deliberating over a two-day period. But Shields reassembled the jurors just minutes after he'd dismissed them, because he "failed" to question them on whether they could reach a unanimous verdict on either of the two counts.

Jurors told Shields that they could unanimously rule in favor of the law school on the political discrimination charge, but could not decide on the equal protection charge. Shields changed the ruling, declaring a mistrial on only the second count; U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt later dismissed the equal protection charge and denied an appeal from Wagner for a new trial.

The judges' ruling today grants Wagner a new trial on the discrimination charge, finding that once jurors have been dismissed, they cannot be asked to return and give a verdict.

The judges noted that past rulings have found that juries can be asked to return, depending on whether all the jurors have left the courtroom or have returned to a deliberation room. However, advances in cellphone technology means that judges cannot really measure jurors' interactions once they've been dismissed, the ruling said.

"In this age of instant individualized electronic communication and widespread personal control and management of pocket-sized wireless devices, we think this bright line rule is more faithful to precedent and offers better guidance than an amorphous rule that turns on whether jurors in fact became available for or were susceptible to outside influences or remained within total control of the court," the ruling said.

Wagner also added current law school dean Gail Agrawal to her lawsuit, asking that she be given the position as a legal writing instructor.

Jurors told The Des Moines Register after the trial that they believed Wagner was discriminated against due to her political beliefs, but also said they did not want to hold the former dean personally accountable.