Opinion ID: 2279271
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: KLC'S Claim of Qualified Privilege

Text: In his August 8, 2003 Order, the trial judge decided that he erred by failing to instruct the jury on qualified privilege, and that a new trial on the issue of defamation was required. We disagree. The judge did not err in failing to so instruct the jury because KLC did not adequately or properly raise the issue. CR 51(3) provides: [n]o party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless he has fairly and adequately presented his position by an offered instruction or by motion, or unless he makes objection before the court instructs the jury, stating specifically the matter to which he objects and the ground or grounds of his objection. In its pretrial motion for summary judgment and its motion for a directed verdict, KLC argued for dismissal of the defamation claim on the grounds of absolute privilege, which as noted previously, does not allow for a jury instruction. Rogers, 144 S.W.3d at 844. As noted in the preceding section of this opinion, the trial judge correctly and consistently ruled that no absolute privilege applied here. In seeking an instruction on qualified privilege, it was incumbent upon KLC to fairly and adequately present the matter to the court. It is equally important that the issue be fairly and adequately presented to the opposing parties, whose interest in avoiding reversible error is paramount. Our review of the record persuades us that KLC did not fairly and adequately present its position on qualified privilege to the trial court's attention by tendering an appropriate jury instruction, or otherwise, and therefore, KLC was not entitled to a new trial. We addressed virtually the same issue in Meyers v. Chapman Printing Co., Inc., 840 S.W.2d 814 (Ky.1992). There, a party objected to a jury instruction that used the words but for as the causal link between the alleged wrongful conduct and the injury claimed. We stated: [a]lthough Meyers objected to the but for language, Meyers tendered no instruction fully describing her view of how to properly frame the same issue. She contends that once she objected and asked that substantial or motivating factor language be used instead of but for, the burden was on her opponent, the employer, to complete the record by submitting a further instruction advising the jury that it should nevertheless find for the employer if they believed the employee would have been discharged even if no improper motive existed. The requirements of CR 51(3) are such that before a party may complain of error in the instructions, the party must accompany the objection with a fully correct instruction, or, at the least, must advise the court sufficiently so that the court can understand both the nature of the objection and what needs to be done to correct it Id. at 823-824 (emphasis added). In Sand Hill Energy, Inc. v. Smith, 142 S.W.3d 153, 163 (Ky.2004) we provided a clear rule to determine compliance with CR 51(3), stating: Kentucky appellate courts have explained that a tendered instruction will not fairly and adequately present the party's position as to an allegation of instructional error when: (1) the omitted language or instruction was not contained in the instruction tendered to the trial court; i.e., when the allegation of error was not presented to the trial court at all; (2) the minor differences between the language of the tendered instruction and the instruction given by the trial court would not call the trial court's attention to the alleged error; (3) the tendered instruction itself was otherwise erroneous or incomplete. Id. at 163-164 (internal citations omitted). The specific issue in Sand Hill was whether the one party, Ford Motor Company, had preserved its claim that the punitive damage instructions given to the jury failed to satisfy the extra-territorial limitation on punitive damages imposed by the United States Supreme Court in State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408, 123 S.Ct. 1513, 155 L.Ed.2d 585 (2003). We concluded that, while it would have been improper to give Ford's entire four-page punitive damage instruction, one paragraph did contain the language essential to a correct instruction. We concluded that the tendered instruction satisfied all the elements set out in Sand Hill. The instruction on privilege tendered by KLC [11] satisfied none of Sand Hill's three factors for CR 51(3) compliance, and stands in marked contrast to the one it tendered at the second trial. [12] KLC failed the Meyers test because it did not accompany the objection [as to the privilege instruction] with a fully correct instruction, nor did it advise the court sufficiently so that the court [could] understand both the nature of the objection and what need[ed] to be done to correct it. We conclude that KLC did not comply with CR 51(3), and therefore was not entitled to demand a new trial on alleged errors that it failed to bring to the trial court's attention in an adequate and timely manner. Instead of properly demanding an instruction on qualified privilege, KLC continued to assert the defense of absolute privilege. KLC's compliance with CR 51(3) at the end of a three-week jury trial would have not only allowed the trial court to fairly evaluate the matter, it would have enabled the Hills to protect their interest in avoiding the need for a second trial. By granting KLC a new trial despite its violation of CR 51(3), the trial court abused its discretion. We therefore reverse the judgment of the second trial, and reinstate the verdicts reflected in the Judgment of May 12, 2003.