Case Name: SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1974-03-14
Citations: 131 Ga. App. 288
Docket Number: 48434
Parties: SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH.
Judges: Bell, C. J., Eberhardt, P. J., and Quillian, J., concur. Hall, P. J., Pannell, Deen, and Clark, JJ, concur specially. Evans, J., dissents.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 131
Pages: 288–300

Head Matter:
48434.
SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH.

Opinion:
Stolz, Judge.
This is an appeal by Seaboard Coast Line Railroad from the overruling of a motion for new trial as amended which followed a verdict obtained by Smith in his damage suit for personal injuries sustained in a railroad crossing collision. Plaintiff below was a passenger in his van type automobile in which there were five of his employees, one of whom was driving Smith's car under plaintiffs control. The collision between the engine and the vehicle occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. at a time when the railroad was engaged in a switching operation at a public highway crossing. There was a heavy misty fog at the location which impaired visibility. Further relevant facts will be stated in the opinion.
1. (a) The first enumeration of error reads: "The court erred in failing to furnish the parties a panel of twenty-four competent and qualified jurors from which to strike a jury, the court failing to qualify the jurors as to whether any were employees of the railroad company, thereby furnishing a panel of twenty-four jurors, six of whom were employees of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company, and the defendant railroad having stricken three of the employees, and having exhausted all six of its strikes, two employees of the railroad were left on the jury who were incompetent and disqualified." The record shows: "Matters relating to the qualifications of the jurors to try this case arose at the beginning of the trial. The question arose as to whether employees of the Railroad Company were qualified jurors. Counsel for plaintiff contended that employees of a party were not disqualified. Counsel for defendant contended that employees of a party had always been held to be disqualified. The court, after discussion of the matter with counsel, ruled that employees of the Railroad Company were not disqualified to sit as jurors and some six or seven employees were placed on the panel of jurors from which the parties were required to strike."
Following a hearing upon this motion, the trial judge directed the following to be added to the transcript of record: "When the names of the panel of jurors were called by the Clerk, the Court qualified these jurors with respect to relationship to the plaintiff and to his counsel, also as to whether any of the jurors were officers, directors, stockholders, agents or employees of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company. Whereupon, Mr. Neville, of counsel for the plaintiff, argued to the Court that the courts had held that mere employees of a party, as distinguished from agents, were not disqualified. The court then called counsel to the bench, and Mr. Pedrick, of counsel for the defendant, stated that he contended that employees were disqualified. After some discussion the court qualified the jury as to relationship to the plaintiff and to his counsel; also as to whether any of the jurors were officers, directors, stockholders or agents of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company, and omitted qualifying the jurors as to being employees of the railroad.
"A panel of twenty-four jurors was furnished to counsel for the purpose of striking. Six of this panel were employees of the railroad company, to wit: Virgil M. Hanchey, Billy Jacobs, J. L. Stevens, Tim Bill (Beale) Hickox, Cecil Lynn and Edward Sowell. Plaintiffs counsel used all of his six strikes, one being Edward Sowell, an employee of the railroad. Defendant railroad used all of its six strikes, three of such strikes being employees of the railroad company, to wit: Billy Jacobs, J. L. Stevens and Virgil M. Hanchey. Two employees of the railroad company were left on the jury and sat as jurors during the trial and participated in the verdict, to wit: Cecil Lynn and Tim Bill (Beale) Hickox." (T. 1, 2).
"The object of all legal investigation is the discovery of truth." Code § 38-101. In attempting to obtain this ideal, the parties to the case are entitled to have a panel of impartial jurors to select from. Certainly, being a relative or an employee of a party or of counsel having a financial interest in the litigation to be tried, materially detracts from a prospective juror's impartiality. Once such facts become known to the trial judge, he should excuse such prospective jurors and replace them with others not so afflicted. It is not fair to require a juror to sit in judgment on his relative or employer. One can no more judicially assume that a relative or employee sitting as a juror will be partial toward a litigant relative or employer, than we can assume that nations which have been our allies in the past will always be such. Perhaps the one fact that can be assumed is that relatives or employees will be biased one way or the other. "Let there be no thumb on the scale when the jury weighs the evidence." Jones v. Cloud, 119 Ga. App. 697, 708 (168 SE2d 598). Also see excellent discussion in Division 5 at page 705. To more consistently attain a fair trial by fair and impartial jurors, relatives and employees should be excluded from jury service except where there is a waiver by counsel for both parties.
The wisdom of such rule is substantiated when one considers the plight of any employee during voir dire. "The single purpose for voir dire is the ascertainment of the impartiality of jurors, their ability to treat the cause on the merits with objectivity and freedom from bias and prior inclination." Whitlock v. State, 230 Ga. 700, 706 (198 SE2d 865). An individual subpoenaed to jury service in the performance of his public duty should not be called upon to answer affirmatively or negatively with its resultant impact either way upon him personally the question: "Would your employment prevent you from fulfillment of your sworn duty as a juror to act fairly and impartially and without any bias as between the parties in this case?" In order to insure that each party obtains a panel of impartial jurors it is essential to rule that regardless of any presumption employees should be held incompetent to serve as a juror in a case in which the employer is a party.
(b) However, it has long been held that the disqualification of a juror may be waived. See Brindle v. State, 125 Ga. App. 298, 299 (187 SE2d 310) and cit. Thus, where disqualification appears by reason of relationship, employment, or any expressed prejudice or bias, the court should remove the prospective juror from the panel where there is an objection by counsel for any party. A review of the record in the case sub judice does not reveal an objection to the trial court's failure to qualify the prospective jurors as to their employment by the defendant railroad. The contention made by defense counsel, as shown in the supplemental record, prior to the trial judge's qualifying the prospective jurors, is insufficient. A contention prior to a ruling can never be the equivalent of an objection to a ruling. We construe the record to show a waiver of the disqualification and consequently no merit in the first enumeration of error.
2. The second enumeration attacks that portion of the charge in which the court said "[I]t is not necessarily such a lack of ordinary care on the automobile driver's part as will defeat a recovery for the operator of a properly equipped automobile to drive it in the night at such a rate of speed that he cannot stop within the limit of his vision ahead. This is true whether the night was foggy or clear. In other words, if you find that the operator of the plaintiffs vehicle was operating the same at such a rate of speed that he could not stop within the limit of his vision ahead, this fact alone would not necessarily constitute a lack of ordinary care, but it would be your responsibility to take into consideration from the evidence all the facts and circumstances as you find them to be." (T. 259-260). There is no error in this instruction as it placed upon the jury the duty to make the final determination of whether or not the plaintiff was in the exercise of ordinary care under all of the evidence. Bach v. Bragg Bros. &c., 53 Ga. App. 574 (3) (186 SE 711); Rogers v. Johnson, 94 Ga. App. 666 (96 SE2d 285); Central of Ga. R. Co. v. Brower, 106 Ga. App. 340, 347 (127 SE2d 33).
3. Enumeration of error number 3 attacks this portion of the charge: "I charge you that there are circumstances where due care for the safety of others would require a railroad obstructing a crossing to place a guard, light, or some other warning at a proper point to give notice for the time that the crossing is obstructed. An illustration of such circumstances is a misty and foggy morning. Except in clear and indisputable cases, whether particular circumstances require such action on the part of the railroad is a question exclusively for the jury to determine." (Emphasis supplied.) (T. 260). This instruction was excepted to on the ground that it amounted to "an expression of opinion as to what the railroad would be required to do on a misty and foggy morning which was emphasizing the facts in this case" and that it was "further error because it was argumentative in view of the evidence of mist and fog."
This instruction was quoted from the cases of Savannah & A. R. Co. v. Newsome, 90 Ga. App. 390, 394 (83 SE2d 80); Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Studdard, 99 Ga. App. 609, 612 (109 SE2d 523) and Jones v. Grantham, 102 Ga. App. 436, 438 (116 SE2d 668). Language used in one case by an appellate court may not be appropriate for another case when used in totidem verbis. Atlanta & W. P. R. Co. v. Hudson, 123 Ga. 108, 109 (51 SE 29); Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Clements, 92 Ga. App. 451, 454 (88 SE2d 809). As was said by this court in Hunt v. Pollard, 55 Ga. App. 423, 426 (190 SE 71): "We must therefore repeat the oft-decided principle, that language employed by a judge of a reviewing court in discussing a case, or in giving reasons for a decision, is not always appropriate for use by a trial judge in charging a jury." In accord are Atlanta & W. P. R. Co. v. Hudson, 123 Ga. 108 (2), supra; Fitzpatrick v. Jim Clay Ford, Inc., 126 Ga. App. 58 (189 SE2d 876) and citations therein.
Although the trial judge here used language from an appellate decision including the sentence that "an illustration of such circumstance is a foggy and misty morning," this expression of opinion on the facts as they existed here with application to the duty of the railroad was an opinion indeed inappropriate and argumentative.
This portion complained of was also erroneous because it contravened the established principle that "a trial judge may not tell a jury what acts would or would not constitute negligence unless the acts have been declared by statute to be negligent." Watson v. Riggs, 79 Ga. App. 784, 785 (54 SE2d 323). Its effect was to inform the jury that the railroad was negligent if it failed to place a guard or light or some other warning at the crossing on "a misty and foggy morning," which the evidence showed did exist.
4. The fourth error enumerated deals again with a portion of the charge similar to what we considered in Division 2 of our opinion. As before, defendant contends the language with reference to care exercised in driving an automobile at night at a speed with reference to illumination available from its headlight was erroneous. The court here again left this for determination by the jury in the light of all the evidence. Additionally, it is observed that the language complained of was given in charge immediately after the court instructed: "Whether the plaintiff is to be chargeable with negligence or not in the operation of his vehicle on the night of the collision depends on what is reasonable under all the circumstances then existing, and this is a question of fact for you to determine." (T. 260). This was not error. See Ga. &c. R. Co. v. Rutherford, 104 Ga. App. 41, 47 (121 SE2d 159) and Turkett v. Central of Ga. R. Co., 117 Ga. App. 617, 618 (161 SE2d 362).
Argued September 13, 1973
Decided March 14, 1974.
Bennett, Pedrick & Bennett, Larry E. Pedrick, Gibson, McGee & Blount, Lamar Gibson, for appellant.
Oliver, Maner & Gray, George P. Donaldson, III, Neville & Neville, W. J. Neville, for appellee.
5. The remaining enumerations of error presented the question of whether the trial court took appropriate curative action in conformance with Code § 81-1009 with regard to two instances of improper arguments by plaintiffs attorney before the jury. As this case is being remanded for a new trial and as the improper arguments are not likely to occur again it is not necessary to pass on these final two enumerations of error.
Judgment reversed.
Bell, C. J., Eberhardt, P. J., and Quillian, J., concur. Hall, P. J., Pannell, Deen, and Clark, JJ, concur specially. Evans, J., dissents.