Opinion ID: 2406015
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: comment by the trial judge.

Text: The McCrorys assert that the trial court erred when it informed the jury that the writ of attachment was legal. We agree. The following dialogue occurred at trial between Barbara McCrory, Mr. DePriest (her lawyer), and the trial judge. Q. DePriest: Did you ever get access to your property? A. McCrory: Quite awhile later the Court dissolved the Writ of Attachment and determined it wasn't legal and let me have it. The Court: No, you ladies and gentlemen, disregard that. The Court didn't say the Writ of Attachment wasn't legal. To the contrary, the Writ of Attachment, of course, was legal. As previously noted, the trial court discharged the writ of attachment (which had been issued by the circuit clerk) because Thomas Johnson had not met his burden of showing, pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 16-110-101 (1987) that Barbara McCrory was about to remove or had removed her property, or a material part thereof, from the state. The trial court, in effect, found that under the circumstances the issuance of the writ was not authorized or permitted by our code provisions. Black's Law Dictionary 673, 803 (5th ed. 1979) defines illegal as against or not authorized by law, and legal, in part, as permitted by law. By incorrectly stating at trial that the Writ of Attachment, of course, was legal, the court may have led the jury to mistakenly believe that the writ was permitted or authorized by law (legal) and erroneously conclude that the McCrorys did not have a cause of action based upon the wrongful issuance of the writ. It is reversible error for a trial court to make an incorrect statement or conclusion of law which tends to mislead the jury in arriving at its verdict. Kidd v. Gardner Associated, Inc., 92 Idaho 548, 447 P.2d 414 (1968); Gaito v. City of Pittsburgh, 390 Pa. 409, 135 A.2d 746 (1957). See also Haseman v. Union Bank of Mena & Haseman, 262 Ark. 803, 562 S.W.2d 45 (1978). The trial court's comment was improper and should not have been made.