Opinion ID: 1138293
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Issue 3: The charge on the duty to disclose.

Text: Independent Life contends that the trial court did not allow the jury to decide whether Independent Life had a duty to disclose certain facts to Casey and that it erred by not doing so. It argues that the trial court erred by instructing the jury that withholding any significant fact that the insured would want to know would constitute suppression. However, the trial court did submit to the jury the issue of a duty. The trial court gave an instruction quite similar to instruction 18.08 found in Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions: Civil (1992 Supp.). The court stated: The plaintiff contends that each defendant was guilty of a legal fraud because the defendant concealed or withheld material facts from the plaintiff, and here I am talking about Mrs. Casey, and without knowledge of such material fact or facts the plaintiff, here Mrs. Casey, acted to her injury. The defendants each deny those allegations and the burden is upon the plaintiff, now Mrs. Harrington, to reasonably satisfy each member of the jury from the evidence of the truthfulness of each of these subparts or other material, and they are all material allegations or elements. The defendant had a duty to disclose a material fact that the defendant concealed or withheld one or more material facts from the plaintiff to induce the plaintiff, we are talking here about Mrs. Casey, to act that without knowledge of such material fact or facts the plaintiff, here Mrs. Casey, acted to her injury.  In determining whether any defendant was under a duty to disclose or communicate or in some way convey a material fact the jury may consider the value of the particular fact involved, the relative knowledge of the parties, any inequality of the condition of the parties, the relative bargaining position of the parties and whether the defendant, whichever one you are talking about, has some particular knowledge, means of knowledge or expertise not shared by the plaintiff. A trial court must instruct the jurors fully and correctly on the applicable law of the case. American Cast Iron Pipe Co. v. Williams, 591 So.2d 854 (Ala.1991). This instruction appropriately informed the jury as to what it could consider in determining whether the defendants had a duty to disclose a material fact.