Opinion ID: 2542999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper Conduct of Juror.

Text: ¶ 12 Plaintiffs allege that misconduct by the jury foreman substantially affected their right to a fair trial. Plaintiffs' counsel talked to the jury foreman on the steps of the courthouse after the trial and learned that the juror had performed a search for any news reports about similar cases against Wal-Mart, but that he had been unable to find any. [4] Plaintiffs' counsel states that he did not have further discussion with the juror, but reported the information to the trial judge and opposing counsel. A telephone conference was scheduled between counsel for both sides and Judge Hetherington on April 30, 2004. Id. There is no transcription of that conversation in the material before us. Plaintiffs state that no representatives of the parties contacted any jurors after the last evening of the trial. ¶ 13 The trial judge ruled that plaintiffs failed to make a showing that the verdict was materially affected by the out-of-court evidence. There was no showing that the jury's verdict was influenced by the foreman's search. There was no showing that the individual juror's vote was influenced by his search, nor that the results of juror's fruitless search were even made known to the other jurors. See, Robinson v. Borg-Warner Protective Services, Corp., 2001 OK 59, 31 P.3d 1041 (no record was made of the issue of juror misconduct and there was no testimony or other evidence to support the claim that trial judge erred in not granting a new trial on this ground). We find that the trial judge applied the correct legal standard and did not abuse his discretion in denying the motion for new trial on the ground of juror misconduct.