Title: Stroncek v. Berkshire Life Insurance Company

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

193 N.W.2d 286 (1971) Joseph C. STRONCEK, Respondent, v. BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant. No. 42708. Supreme Court of Minnesota. December 17, 1971. *287 Thiel & Sorenson, Minneapolis, for appellant. Mott, Grose, Von Holtum & Sieben, Minneapolis, for respondent. Heard before KNUTSON, C. J., and MURPHY, OTIS, ROGOSHESKE, and HACHEY, JJ. RONALD E. HACHEY, Justice.[*] This is an appeal by defendant, Berkshire Life Insurance Company, from an order of the trial court denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the answers to special interrogatories, or, in the alternative, for a new trial. Plaintiff brought the action to recover monthly benefit payments and for the return of premiums paid pursuant to clauses of an insurance policy which provided for waiver of premiums and monthly benefits to be paid in the event of total disability of the insured. The matter was submitted on special interrogatories to a jury, which found that plaintiff was totally disabled. Pursuant to the jury's answers, the trial court ordered judgment for plaintiff, awarding payment of monthly benefits through March 1970 and an additional amount representing premiums plaintiff has paid since becoming totally disabled. Total disability is defined in the policy in part as follows: Plaintiff was 49 years of age at the time of trial. He graduated from high school in 1938 and worked for his father in a cabinet shop. Over the years he worked at various places as a carpenter in construction jobs. He started his own contracting business in 1950 and his work consisted primarily of building new homes, including the drawing of plans and supervision of carpenters and subcontractors. Beginning in late 1964 and early 1965, he had symptoms of high blood pressure, fainting spells, and dry heaves, which disabilities eventually resulted in his termination of work in June 1967. In the meantime, plaintiff "passed out" a total of six times, once in 1967 before his work termination. He also experienced difficulty with his memory and lost sleep. He tried numerous types of tranquilizers, but to no avail. After quitting the contracting business, he studied in order to obtain a license to sell real estate but could not attempt the examination because of his memory problem. Upon physical exertion, he becomes short of breath. He is continually harassed by severe headaches and numbness in the arms. Prior to his termination of work, plaintiff made from $8,000 to $30,000 per year from his business. Pursuant to the insurance policy, plaintiff received $300 per month disability benefits until October 1969. Shortly before trial, he was sent to a rehabilitation center to make application for possible training for some type of employment. The application had not been fully processed at the time of trial. Defendant contends that plaintiff is not permanently totally disabled as described in the policy and has therefore refused to pay the monthly benefits from and after October 1969 and has refused to waive payment of premiums. *288 1-2. One of the claims of error relates to the admissibility of testimony of two witnesses called by plaintiff which tended to show that plaintiff was not "employable." One witness, a staff training specialist with the Minnesota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, testified that plaintiff was unemployable for physical and emotional reasons. The other witness, an owner and manager of an employment service, also testified that in his opinion plaintiff was not employable. The opinion of the first witness was not objected to by defense counsel, and the opinion of the second witness was objected to on the grounds of lack of foundation and irrelevance. That objection was overruled. Defendant does not dispute the fact that plaintiff suffers from a disease and that the disease encompasses mental or emotional problems as well as physical. Defendant does, however, contend that the only means by which the pertinent clause can be properly interpreted is to determine whether or not plaintiff is capable of performing the tasks involved. Defendant further argues that the term "employability" as testified to by the two employment counselors has no place in the interpretation of the contract and concludes that without their testimony the jury would have had no credible testimony upon which to base a finding for plaintiff. In Maze v. Equitable Life Ins. Co., 188 Minn. 139, 142, 246 N.W. 737, 738 (1933), we held: Following that decision, and through the years, this court has constructed an elaborate framework in defining the words "total disability." In Green v. Schmahl, 202 Minn. 254, 256, 278 N.W. 157, 158 (1938), we again repeated that "although an injured person may be able to perform some parts of an occupation he may be held to be totally disabled unless he is able to perform the substantial and material parts of some gainful work or occupation with reasonable continuity." Lee v. Minneapolis St. Ry. Co., 230 Minn. 315, 319, 41 N.W.2d 433, 436 (1950), involved, among other things, the admissibility of the testimony of a supervisor for the Minnesota State Employment Service to the effect that jobs with reasonable continuity were not available to a person as handicapped as the plaintiff. We held: See, also, Berg v. Sadler, 235 Minn. 214, 50 N.W.2d 266 (1951). The issue of the relevance of testimony of an employment expert to the effect that the injured party was "unemployable" arose in Petter v. K. W. McKee, Inc., 270 Minn. 362, 367, 133 N.W.2d 638, 642 (1965). In that decision, this court stated: 3. It seems, therefore, but a small step to hold that, since the ability to be hired is relevant, if not crucial, to determining total disability, expert testimony as to the ability to be hired (as opposed to the ability to perform certain tasks) will be admissible. The trial court took that step. In its well-stated and well-reasoned memorandum accompanying the order denying defendant's post-trial motion, the trial court noted: We agree with the trial court and do not find error in the record with respect to the admissibility of the testimony of the two employment experts. 4. Defendant contends that the verdict is not supported by the evidence and points to allegedly confusing or inconsistent testimony of plaintiff and of the medical witnesses who testified with respect to his total disability. We do not find that there was any prejudicial error. The jury was properly instructed with respect to its assignment of weighing and evaluating that evidence. That evidence, together with the evidence of the employment experts, supports the jury's finding that plaintiff was totally disabled within the meaning of the pertinent provision of the insurance policy. In 1897, this court stated, in defining total disability: In Blazek v. North American Life & Cas. Co., 251 Minn. 130, 140, 87 N.W.2d 36, 44 (1957), this court stated: Where there is ample evidence to support a jury's finding of total disability within the terms and provisions of an insurance policy that finding will not be disturbed. 5. Defendant cites as prejudicial error the following portion of final argument by plaintiff's counsel: Counsel for defendant objected to that portion of the argument, and the trial court made the following comment: Nothing further was said by the court at that time or during its final instructions. Defendant contends those remarks of counsel were designed to create passion and prejudice for which there was no adequate instruction by the court, and that even had there been one, it would have been impossible to overcome their effect. What constitutes misconduct resulting in passion and prejudice is a matter addressed largely to the discretion of the trial court. See, Knowles v. Van Gorder, 23 Minn. 197 (1876); Rheiner v. Stillwater St. Ry. & Transfer Co., 31 Minn. 193, 17 N.W. 279 (1883); Olson v. Prayfrock, 254 Minn. 42, 94 N.W.2d 540 (1958). The trial court is in a better position to assess the impact of argument on a jury than we are. Wilson v. Sorge, 256 Minn. 125, 97 N.W.2d 477 (1959). Generally, in Minnesota, attorneys are given reasonably wide latitude in their arguments to the jury. If an attorney presents a persuasive argument on behalf of his client, the verdict alone is not proof that the argument tended to incite passion and prejudice. The trial court in its memorandum stated as follows: Whether remarks made in final argument require a cautionary instruction or other corrective action is a matter addressed to the discretion of the trial court. Similarly, whether to grant a new trial for misconduct of counsel rests largely in that court's discretion, and we will not reverse its determination unless the conduct is so prejudicial that it would be a miscarriage of justice to permit the result to stand. In this case the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff on the merits. It is unlikely that it would have found against defendant entirely as a result of the statements of plaintiff's counsel which have been complained of. Olson v. Prayfrock, supra. From the record it appears that no prejudice which could have possibly come from the remarks of plaintiff's counsel was so great that it would warrant the granting of a new trial. The order of the trial court is affirmed. Affirmed. [*] Acting as Justice of the Supreme Court by appointment pursuant to Minn.Const. art. 6, § 2, and Minn.St. 2.724, subd. 2.