Lewis-Williams
Lewis-Williams v. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
GABRIEL CHAVEZ, et al., Plaintiffs, No. C 22-06119 WHA
v.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID ORDER DENYING RULE
TRANSIT DISTRICT, MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL
11 Defendant.
13 INTRODUCTION In this Title VII religious accommodation action, defendant-employer seeks to set aside a partial verdict entered in favor of plaintiff-employees after a first jury trial, in advance of a retrial of those issues not reached by the first jury. The motion is DENIED. STATEMENT These consolidated actions went to trial in July. Due to the large number of plaintiffs in the action, the trial was organized into phases. Seven plaintiffs selected by the parties constituted the first phase of trial, which began on July 8. The jury heard evidence until July 12, and began its phase one deliberations the following Monday. The first attempt to try the case resulted in a mistrial: after nearly three days of …