Tull v. United States: Jury Trial Required in Statutory Civil Penalty Actions
![handle is hein.journals/utahlr1988 and id is 437 raw text is: Tull v. United States: Jury Trial Required in
Statutory Civil Penalty Actions
I. INTRODUCTION
In Tull v. United States,, the United States Supreme Court
firmly established the right to civil jury trial in civil penalty ac-
tions under the Clean Water Act (CWA).2 In doing so, the Court
overruled a growing body of recent case law holding the civil pen-
alty provisions of the CWA to be equitable in nature, and thus
outside the seventh amendment civil jury trial requirement.' The
Tull decision reinstates what had been a well-settled conclusion re-
garding statutory civil penalty actions; that is, that statutory civil
penalty actions are cases at common law within the meaning of the
seventh amendment's mandate, and thus require jury trial on de-
mand by either party.
This Note traces the history of the Supreme Court's treatment
of the right to civil jury trial in statutory cases, concluding that
Tull was rightly decided under the test established by the Court.
This Note then examines the effects that the additional burdens of
a jury trial will have on enforcement actions under the CWA and
similar environmental statutes, focusing primarily on the shift of
jurisdiction from the federal courts to administrative tribunals.
II. BACKGROUND
The seventh amendment to the federal constitution provides
that [in Suits at common law, where the value in controversy
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre-
served.4 In 1830 Justice Story interpreted the term common
law as referring to actions in law of the type existing prior to the
adoption of the seventh amendment, as opposed to actions in
equity:
The phrase common law, found in this clause, is used in contra-
distinction to equity .... By common law [the Framers] meant
1. 107 S. Ct. 1831 (1987).
2. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500,
86 Stat. 816 (codified as amended at 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d) (1982)).
3. See infra notes 41-48 and accompanying text.
4. U.S. CONST. amend. VII.
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Tull v. United States: Jury Trial Required in Statutory Civil Penalty Actions
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