Opinion ID: 1232156
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the interrogatory to the jury

Text: The interrogatory asked the jury to explain a facially contradictory verdict. Amoroso asserts that the question forced the jurors to reveal their mental processes in violation of NRS 50.065(2)(a), which states that, 2. Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment: (a) A juror shall not testify concerning the effect of anything upon his or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing him to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning his mental processes in connection therewith. Amoroso suggests that instead of asking the jury how it reached a verdict that was inconsistent with Nevada law, the court should have stricken the inconsistent part. Since the jury awarded zero damages for fraud, the court simply should have stricken the entire punitive damages award. However, this court has permitted trial courts to ask juries to clarify verdicts. Eberhard Mfg. Co. v. Baldwin, 97 Nev. 271, 628 P.2d 681 (1981) (a court may inform a jury why its verdict is inconsistent and send the verdict back for further deliberation); Novack v. Hoppin, 77 Nev. 33, 359 P.2d 390 (1961). In Novack, the jury awarded exemplary damages but no compensatory damages. Without a clarification as to why the jury gave an award that did not comport with legal principles, this court had no choice but to remand for a new trial. However, we stated that the defect in the award could have been cured if the trial court had returned the verdict to the jury for further consideration. Id. at 44, 359 P.2d at 395. In this case, the trial court faced the same dilemma as in Novack. Punitive damages are not available on the count for breach of contract and are precluded in the absence of compensatory damages for the claim sustaining the punitive award. Sprouse v. Wentz, 105 Nev. 597, 781 P.2d 1136 (1989) (punitive damages award stricken when plaintiff never pleaded a claim sounding in tort). This jury found fraud which resulted in damages to L & L. However, the verdict contained no fraud damages because the jury determined that the breach of contract damages adequately compensated for the fraud. Under these circumstances, punitive damages are statutorily permissible. [1] Consequently, the time to determine whether a verdict is inconsistent with Nevada law is before the court dismisses the jury. The interrogatory posed in this case did not ask the jurors to reveal how they reached their decision. Instead, it simply asked what they meant by a verdict which they could have arrived at by two different methods. Since one of those methods was statutorily permissible but the other was not, it was incumbent upon the trial court to determine what the jury intended by its verdict. The trial court's interrogatory is exactly what we suggested in Novack. The inquiry cured the inconsistency in the verdict, and saved the case from requiring a new trial.