October 18, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Dupree v. Younger, 598 U.S. 729, 143 S. Ct. 1382 (2023), that a post-trial motion under Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is not required to preserve for appellate review purely legal issues resolved on summary judgment.  While Dupree is a prisoner-rights case, its application is not limited to this context.

The decision, delivered by Justice Barrett, provides a good discussion on why the procedures for preserving factual issues—sufficiency of the evidence claims—for appellate review should not equally apply to purely legal issues. 598 U.S. at 731-37.  The Court acknowledged that difficulty in distinguishing between factual and purely legal questions may arise and that it would not be surprising if “prudent counsel … make sure to renew their arguments in a Rule 50 motion out of an abundance of caution.” Id. at 737-38.  It concluded, though, that “the need for a bright-line rule in this area” was overstated by Younger and that appellate courts “have long found it possible to separate factual from legal matters.” Id.