Opinion ID: 1953260
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the court erred in applying hudson v. taleff to this case?

Text: Brown argues that she was denied a fair trial because the court, improperly applying Hudson v. Taleff , granted challenges for cause to all patients of the Clinic and their immediate families. Brown argues that because of the high utilization of the Clinic in Bolivar County, it was impossible for her to obtain a jury representative of her peers, when all patients and their families were excluded from the jury. Brown contends that the trial court's application of Taleff resulted in prospective jurors being excluded on account of their race, social and economic status, and gender. Brown argues that her case is distinguishable from Taleff in that it was the plaintiff in Taleff who sought a new trial because the jury had contained several patients of the defendant doctor, while in her case, the defendant doctor sought to remove his patients from the venire. Brown asserts that Taleff was intended to protect the Plaintiff from the natural bias and prejudices that patients normally have in favor of their physicians. She also asserts that in a medical negligence case, the right to exclude prospective jurors from the venire on the basis of their defendant physician's Clinic should rest, if at all, only with the Plaintiff. Blackwood argues that the trial judge properly applied Taleff to insure an unbiased jury. Blackwood further argues that the judge followed Taleff by increasing the size of the available venire, and granting both parties the right to challenge for cause any patient of the Clinic or family member of a patient. Blackwood notes that the jury seated contained no members with relationships to Blackwood or the Clinic, and that the jury was therefore entirely impartial. Blackwood states that it was he who first pointed out the possible difficulty of selecting a jury in compliance with Taleff, and accordingly filed a motion for change of venue (which the plaintiffs opposed). Blackwood argues that the judge's application of Taleff afforded Brown the opportunity to strike any member of the venire the plaintiffs thought would be sympathetic to Blackwood, and that the plaintiffs took this opportunity. The right to a jury trial is protected by Article 3, § 31 of the Mississippi Constitution. In addition, Article 3, § 14 of the Mississippi Constitution guarantees due process of law, including a fair and impartial trial. Hudson v. Taleff, 546 So.2d at 363. A circuit judge has wide discretion in determining whether to excuse any prospective juror, including one challenged for cause. Scott v. Ball, 595 So.2d 848, 849 (Miss. 1992); Mississippi Winn-Dixie Supermarkets v. Hughes, 247 Miss. 575, 156 So.2d 734, 738 (1963). The circuit judge has an absolute duty, however, to see that the jury selected to try any case is fair, impartial and competent. Scott, supra; King v. State, 421 So.2d 1009, 1016 (Miss. 1982). Trial judges must scrupulously guard the impartiality of the jury and take corrective measures to insure an unbiased jury. Hudson v. Taleff, supra; Miss. Power Co. v. Stribling, 191 Miss. 832, 3 So.2d 807 (1941). In Hudson v. Taleff , a medical malpractice action, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant. On appeal, we reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the patient had been denied an impartial jury. Of the 40,338 qualified voters in Lauderdale County, where the case was tried, ninety-two persons were summoned for jury duty the week of the trial; of these, a jury pool of twenty-five was available. Of these twenty-five, twelve, or 48% had some connection with the doctor, his medical partners or his attorney. Mrs. Hudson, the plaintiff, challenged for cause thirteen of the twenty-five member jury pool. The judge excluded from service two jurors from the thirteen challenged. Mrs. Hudson requested a mistrial, asked the court to call additional jurors, grant additional challenges and to excuse those jurors for cause because of their relationship to the doctors or attorneys. The judge apparently declined to so, and Mrs. Hudson exhausted her peremptory challenges on some of the thirteen. In the end, two members of the jury had a connection with the doctor's firm. In finding that the jury was not impartial, we noted that trial judges must scrupulously guard the impartiality of the jury and take corrective measures to insure an unbiased jury. Hudson v. Taleff, 546 So.2d at 363. We cited Mhoon v. State, 464 So.2d 77, 81 (Miss. 1985) for such corrective measures: Given the statistical aberration in the jury pool, the judge could have done several things to ameliorate its prejudicial effect: 1) he could have afforded counsel additional peremptory challenges, 2) he could have increased the size of the available venire as well as affording additional challenges, or 3) he could have sustained at least some of the challenges for cause. Hudson v. Taleff, 546 So.2d at 363. In the case at bar, the judge properly determined that Taleff was applicable, and followed the above directives in order to insure a fair trial for both parties. He summoned a large venire, and ordered that a questionaire be sent to all persons summoned, in order to reveal contact with the Clinic, and expedite choosing a jury. He meticulously cross-checked the juror questionnaires against the patient list provided by the defendant to insure unbiased jurors, and conducted individual voir dire where necessary to verify connection with the Clinic. He allowed both parties unlimited challenges to potential jurors with any connection to the Clinic, and sustained all such challenges by both parties. All such measures were appropriate under Taleff; in fact, it is hard to imagine more proper compliance with the mandates of that opinion, or with our subsequent decision in Scott. In Scott, a widow sued the doctor of her late husband for medical malpractice, and the jury found for the doctor. On appeal, Mrs. Scott contended that the four peremptory challenges provided by rule had not been enough to excuse all prospective jurors who should have been excused for cause by the judge. She had challenged for cause twelve potential jurors based on voir dire responses that they or their family members had relationships with Dr. Ball or his Clinic. The judge had sustained seven of the challenges and denied the remaining five. While reversing and remanding for a new trial on other grounds ( Batson ), we commented on the trial judge's failure to follow Taleff: In this case the circuit judge could have excused these challenged prospective jurors and still have had remaining on the panel a sufficient number against whom there had been no challenge to form a trial jury. Furthermore, the circuit judge could have directed the clerk to draw more names from the jury wheel. Hudson, supra. (a) circuit judge should not hesitate in enlarging the jury panel when legitimate questions for cause, for whatever reason, arise ... Scott, 595 So.2d at 850. Moreover, we commented on the problems peculiar to medical malpractice cases tried in smaller communities: In a suit in which a physician is a party, a circuit judge must be sensitive to the qualification of a juror who has himself or herself been treated by him, or whose family members have at onetime or another been patients of his. This is especially true in our smaller cities and towns, where often there is a shortage of practicing physicians. Mississippians in less populated areas enjoy a close fraternal relationship with their doctors, and regardless of a prospective juror's complete sincerity in his belief of his ability to be fair, it is only human nature that in most cases he will be more than reluctant to return a verdict against the physician. The circuit judge recognized this, of course, when he excused seven of the jurors challenged for cause for this reason. He erred in not excusing prospective juror Smith, No. 20, for cause for this reason. Id. These comments express concern that the plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit will not get a fair shake, and do not show a similar concern for the defendant. Nevertheless, the right to an impartial jury is possessed by both parties, and, Brown's assertion to the contrary, this right permits strikes by medical malpractice defendants, as well as plaintiffs, on individuals whose contact with the doctor might prejudice their hearing of the case. Also contrary to Brown's assertion, there is no indication that the plaintiffs were denied a jury of their peers by the application of Taleff to this case. The jury seated consisted of four blacks and seven whites. Nothing in the record suggests that blacks were more likely than whites to have some connection to Dr. Blackwood or the Clinic, or otherwise shows that the effect of excusing potential jurors with some connection to the Clinic was to exclude a disproportionate number of blacks. Finally, we have stated that the selection of jurors is a judgment call peculiarly within the province of the circuit judge, and one we will not on appeal second guess in the absence of a record showing a clear abuse of discretion. Scott, 595 So.2d at 850. No such abuse of discretion appears in the record; to the contrary, the judge's actions to insure an impartial jury are to be commended. He properly applied Taleff, and followed procedures consistent with that opinion. We affirm his judgment.