Title: Ertsgaard v. Beard
Citation: 310 Or. 486, 800 P.2d 759
Docket Number: N/A
State: Oregon
Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court
Date: November 8, 1990

800 P.2d 759 (1990)
310 Or. 486
Sean Paul ERTSGAARD, a Minor by and through Reid Alan Ertsgaard, His Conservator, Petitioner On Review,
v.
Duane G. BEARD, M.D., Defendant, and
Amelia Allen, M.D., Respondent On Review.
CC 86C 10721; CA A47400; SC S36402.

Supreme Court of Oregon.
Argued and Submitted December 13, 1989.
Decided November 8, 1990.
*760 J. Michael Alexander, of Burt, Swanson, Lathen, Alexander &amp; McCann, Salem, argued the cause for petitioner on review. With him on the brief was Donald W. McCann, Salem.
Kim Jefferies, of Wood Tatum Mosser Brooke &amp; Landis, Portland, argued the cause for respondent on review. With her on the response to the petition was David C. Landis, Portland.
Before PETERSON, C.J., and LINDE,[*] CARSON, JONES,[**] GILLETTE, VAN HOOMISSEN, and FADELEY, JJ.
GILLETTE, Judge.
The issues in this medical malpractice case are (1) whether a juror's failure to reveal in voir dire examination that the defendant doctor had successfully treated a member of the juror's family constituted juror misconduct, and (2) whether the same juror's statements to other jurors during deliberations that the doctor had so treated others constituted juror misconduct. The trial court found both actions to be misconduct and granted a new trial. The Court of Appeals held that neither circumstance justified ordering a new trial and reversed the trial court's order. Ertsgaard v. Beard, 97 Or. App. 471, 777 P.2d 971 (1989). We affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
The underlying action involves injuries suffered by a mother and child at the time of the child's premature birth. While pregnant, mother had seizures which resulted in the premature birth. Plaintiffs (mother, father, and child), each in his or her own right, sued defendant doctors (Beard and Allen) for malpractice, including failing to check mother's blood pressure and failing *761 to discover her condition in a timely manner.
The jury found Allen negligent, but it awarded damages only to plaintiff mother. The trial judge granted a motion for new trial to plaintiff child on grounds of juror misconduct. Defendant Allen appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed the trial court and reinstated the verdict, holding that the juror's acts did not constitute misconduct sufficient to justify setting aside the verdict. We allowed plaintiff child's petition to review the Court of Appeals' decision.
We consider the acts of alleged juror misconduct in the order in which they occurred.
Prior to conducting individual voir dire examinations of potential jurors, plaintiffs' counsel generally explained the overall purpose of voir dire through the following statement:
The specific questions and answers during voir dire examination of juror Barrett (the juror here in question) were as follows:
Although not contained in the record, we presume that all jurors, including Barrett, took an oath to give true answers to all questions touching upon the juror's qualifications to act as a fair and impartial juror in the case. A juror's violation of such an oath would ipso facto constitute misconduct if a relevant untrue answer were given or a relevant fact intentionally concealed and if such misconduct prejudiced the complaining party. As this court has said, "[t]he purpose of voir dire is to determine the possibility of * * * prejudice." McElwain v. Kabatoff, 275 Or. 393, 396, 551 P.2d 105 (1976).
The general duty of a juror to answer voir dire questions and the consequences of a violation of that duty are aptly summed up in a recent ALR annotation:
Annot., Effect of Juror's False or Erroneous Answer on Voir Dire Regarding Previous Claims or Actions Against Himself or His Family, 66 ALR4th 509, 514-15 (1988) (footnotes omitted).
We agree with the foregoing statement of principles, which we think is the law in Oregon. See, e.g., State v. Gardner, 230 Or. 569, 575, 371 P.2d 558 (1962); Jones v. Imperial Garages, 174 Or. 49, 145 P.2d 469 (1944). The principles do not, however, justify the trial judge's decision to grant a new trial in this case.
The trial court's premise in granting a new trial on this ground was that the juror had not answered truthfully the question, "Anything you think I should know * * * before we pass on you as a juror?" It is true that Barrett was not an epitome of candor. In fact, she believed Allen's prompt diagnosis of her relative had saved the relative's life. Certainly, it would have *763 been proper for the prospective juror to have answered, "Yes, although no one has mentioned it, Dr. Allen also treated a relative of mine and saved her life, so I'm going to be very favorably disposed toward Dr. Allen." But we do not think that the question that was asked specifically required that answer.
Counsel in this case had a chance to follow up with the prospective juror on whether any other members of the juror's family had treated with Dr. Allen. Instead, he asked the question involved here. Some form of the question, "Anything else we should know about you?" is asked by virtually every trial lawyer who picks a jury. The question is perfunctory. While there may be times when even answers to questions like it could serve as a basis for granting a new trial,[1] we think such occasions will be very rare and this is not one of them. It follows that the trial court abused its discretion in granting a new trial on this ground, and the Court of Appeals was correct in so ruling. See Isom v. River Island Sand &amp; Gravel, 273 Or. 867, 543 P.2d 1047 (1975) (trial court did not abuse discretion in denying new trial where jury foreman failed to disclose on voir dire that his company was a codefendant in a pending action and that counsel for defendant in the case before the jury was counsel for a codefendant in the other case); Zeiszler v. Fields, 255 Or. 540, 469 P.2d 34 (1970) (not error to deny new trial when juror failed to disclose she had sat on a previous case of a similar type and had been castigated by the mother of the plaintiff in that earlier case for returning a defense verdict).
Some jurors, unhappy with juror Barrett's conduct during deliberations, claimed that Barrett had stated during their deliberations that Allen had saved Barrett's niece by diagnosing a cancerous tumor, that Barrett had argued that a finding of negligence would ruin Allen's reputation, and that Barrett had generally shown bias in favor of Allen. The complaining jurors brought these allegations to the attention of plaintiffs' counsel and the trial judge. Barrett disputed these allegations. The trial judge granted a new trial to plaintiff child, stating:
No statute expressly addresses the propriety of a court's considering a juror's evidence concerning the jury deliberation process after a verdict has been returned. OEC 606,[2] for example, addresses only the competency of a juror to be a witness at trial. It does not purport to describe the circumstances in which a juror may present evidence, by testimony or affidavit, touching the validity of a verdict in which the juror participated. In contrast, Federal Rule of Evidence 606 contains a second subdivision, FRE 606(b),[3] which relates to the competency of a juror to testify about what went on during jury deliberations, not to substantive standards for setting aside a verdict.
The Oregon Legislative Assembly did not adopt FRE 606(b), or any similar rule, apparently believing that Oregon case law adequately stated the circumstances under which a court may inquire into the validity of a jury's verdict. The unofficial legislative commentary to OEC 606 states:
Kirkpatrick, Oregon Evidence 322-23 (2d ed 1989).
*765 In the case before us, we are not concerned with the manner in which the two jurors initially communicated to the court[4] but, rather, whether a juror's affidavit or testimony about Barrett's statements would be admissible in an effort to set aside the verdict based on Barrett's actions during deliberations and, if so, whether Barrett's conduct justified the court's action in granting a new trial. Resolving whether juror affidavits or testimony alleging misconduct justifies a new trial depends on a threshold inquiry whether "such affidavits or testimony may be received by the trial court. Only if the affidavits or testimony are admissible must we inquire whether such allegations of juror error are sufficient to warrant setting aside the verdict and ordering a new trial." D.C. Thompson and Co. v. Hauge, 300 Or. 651, 657, 717 P.2d 1169 (1986).
We think that receiving affidavits to the effect of those produced in this case was appropriate. It is true that the affidavits could be construed, at least in part, as relating to the oral exchanges used by certain jurors in an attempt to persuade others, or to the mental processes used by jurors in reaching a verdict. To the extent they had this effect, their substance should have been ignored. State v. Gardner, supra; Carson v. Brauer, 234 Or. 333, 382 P.2d 79 (1963).
But the fact that, once examined, the contents of a juror's affidavit are not legally sufficient to justify a new trial does not mean that the affidavit was inadmissible. The limited kinds of juror misconduct enumerated in the unofficial commentary are, by their very nature, things only another juror could know. It follows that only another juror, by affidavit or live testimony, could bring such misconduct to the judge's attention. The trial judge properly considered these affidavits.[5]
Holding that the trial judge properly considered the affidavits does not end our inquiry, however. The question remains whether those affidavits disclosed misconduct that permitted the trial judge, as a matter of discretion, to order a new trial. We conclude that ordering a new trial exceeded the scope of discretion accorded to trial judges in such cases.
It is clear that such a decision, whether it is to grant a new trial or to deny one, is discretionary. See, e.g., Wolfe v. Union Pacific R. Co., 230 Or. 119, 123-24, 368 P.2d 622 (1962) (order granting new trial when juror conducted unauthorized visit to locus in quo held not to be abuse of discretion); Saunders v. Williams &amp; Co., 155 Or. 1, 13, 62 P.2d 260 (1936) (order denying new trial was not an abuse of discretion when juror made a "casual" view of the premises without fault of the prevailing party). However, the values identified in the unofficial legislative commentary strongly favor protecting jury verdicts from attack on the basis of statements made during jury deliberations. These values include freedom of deliberation, stability and finality of verdicts, and protection of jurors against annoyance and embarrassment after they have performed their duty and rendered a verdict. Only the clearest kinds of juror misconduct can trigger the trial court's right to exercise its discretion and order a new trial.
*766 The misconduct claimed in this case does not meet that threshold level. Two of the improprieties attributed to Barrett  that she was "biased" toward Allen, and that she argued that a verdict against Allen would ruin the doctor's reputation  are not even colorably sufficient. The posture a juror takes for or against a party during deliberations can always be attacked as bias; no verdict would ever be safe if such a meaningless label could justify a new trial. Similarly, speculation among the jurors concerning the impact of a verdict on a party is a natural consequence of the impression that party may have made on jurors. While inappropriate in most cases (save those when, for example, punitive damages are under consideration), it is also so commonplace that it cannot be a basis for permitting a new trial. See, e.g., Carson v. Brauer, supra, 234 Or. at 343, 382 P.2d 79 ("[C]ourts must recognize that when the jurors, as laymen, are by themselves in the jury room they may at times indulge in remarks of doubtful merit. The state must assume that the tongue's slip up in instances of that kind does not tilt the scales.").
This leaves only Barrett's specific factual allegation concerning Allen's successful treatment of Barrett's niece for a life-threatening illness. Barrett's argument was inappropriate, to be sure. But was it so inappropriate that it could serve as the basis for a discretionary decision to order a new trial?
We think not. In the relatively few cases in which this court has either permitted or required a new trial for juror misconduct that occurred during the deliberating process, we have found none in which the misconduct consisted solely of juror argument. All the cases have involved specific acts by jurors designed (and later claimed, either explicitly or implicitly) by the particular offending jurors to give them special knowledge concerning one of the disputed facts in the case then under consideration. See, e.g., Saunder v. Curry County, 253 Or. 578, 456 P.2d 493 (1969) (unauthorized inspection of premises); Wolfe v. Union Pacific R. Co., supra (unauthorized visit to accident scene); Thomas v. Dad's Root Beer, Etc., 225 Or. 166, 356 P.2d 418, 357 P.2d 418 (1960) (view of accident scene and unauthorized experiment); Eckel v. Breeze, 221 Or. 572, 577, 352 P.2d 460 (1960) (view of scene); Schneider v. Moe, 151 Or. 353, 50 P.2d 577 (1935) (view of accident scene). Barrett's actions were different. She did not obtain new information relating to Allen's care for the plaintiff child. She simply disclosed the basis of her pre-existing bias. That is argument, not superior knowledge of a pivotal fact concerning some issue in the case actually being decided by the jury.
Given the state of the law at the time of the adoption of OEC 606, and given further the assertion in the unofficial commentary that "[t]he Legislative Assembly intends to discourage the practice of questioning jurors after a trial concerning their deliberations or the methods by which they reached a verdict[,]" we think it clear that actions like those of Barrett, however reprehensible, were not such as to constitute juror misconduct permitting the court to grant a new trial. The Court of Appeals was correct in so concluding.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court with instructions to reinstate the jury verdict for defendant Allen.
[*]  Linde, J., retired January 31, 1990;
[**]  Jones, J., resigned April 30, 1990.
[1]  One example might be when the answer to the question should have been, "Yes, the defendant and I have been married for ten years."
[2]  OEC 606 (competency of juror as witness) provides:

"A member of the jury may not testify as a witness before that jury in the trial of the case in which the member has been sworn to sit as a juror. If the juror is called so to testify, the opposing party shall be afforded an opportunity to object out of the presence of the jury."
[3]  FRE 606(b) provides:

"Upon an inquiry in the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning the juror's mental processes in connection therewith, except that a juror may testify on the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror. Nor may a juror's affidavit or evidence of any statement by the juror concerning a matter about which the juror would be precluded from testifying be received for these purposes."
[4]  Uniform Trial Court Rule 3.120 (Communication with jurors) provides:

"(1) Except as necessary during trial, and except as provided in subsection (2), parties, witnesses or court employes shall not initiate contact with any juror concerning any case which that juror was sworn to try.
"(2) After a sufficient showing to the court and on order of the court, a party may have contact with a juror in the presence of the court and opposing parties when:
"(a) there is a reasonable ground to believe that there has been a mistake in the announcing or recording of a verdict;
"(b) there is a reasonable ground to believe that a juror or the jury has been guilty of fraud or misconduct sufficient to justify setting aside or modifying the verdict or judgment."
[5]  Affidavits or testimony of other jurors offered to challenge the verdict but based on the untruthfulness of a juror on voir dire, rather than on the deliberations process, present lesser concerns. The trial court's decision to consider the affidavits for such purpose was, therefore, appropriate as well, although  as previously indicated  the trial court's ruling on the voir dire issue was not.