Bill of Rights - Seventh Amendment Rights

What are our Seventh  Amendment rights?

Here is the exact wording of the Seventh Amendment:

“In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

 

OK let’s break the Seventh Amendment down to see where any misconceptions may be.

The first segment to the Seventh Amendment (Trial by jury in civil cases) reads:

“In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved…”

In any civil case, where the value of the item(s) in question are valued at $20.01 or more, the right to a civil jury trial is in effect.

“…and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

Remember the Sixth Amendment applies first when a law is broken so the Seventh Amendment only applies secondary to the Sixth Amendment in these cases.  In cases where there is damage to property or something similar that doesn’t directly break a law, the seventh Amendment applies. When a jury trial is held under the Seventh Amendment, anything decided by the jury cannot be later re-examined by another trial, in a US court, except as the rules for common law allow.

Here are two examples of when the Seventh Amendment would apply:

You park your $70,000.00 car near a construction site and a crane malfunction causes the crane to drop an i-beam on the car causing total destruction of the vehicle and no injuries to people.  No laws are broken, but you lost $70,000.00 worth of car through no fault of your own.  In this case you could sue the construction company, by civil jury trial, for the $70,000.000.

If a person steals your car and totally destroys it at a chop shop, the theft and willful destruction of the car would be considered breaking the law, and criminal prosecution under the Sixth Amendment would apply first.  Then, depending on the circumstances, you or your insurance company may be able to also sue the thief under the Seventh Amendment.