Opinion ID: 416579
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Partial Verdict

Text: 18 Bridges' final claim is that the first jury's inability to answer the interrogatory concerning defendant's alleged negligence resulted in an inconsistent verdict or indicates jury confusion. The district court, it is urged, erred therefore in accepting any part of the jury's verdict. 19 The plaintiff brought suit claiming strict liability and, separately, defendant's negligence. Thus, the first jury was presented with special interrogatories dealing separately with the strict liability claim and the negligence claim. Although the jury could not reach a verdict on the negligence claim, it clearly did reach a verdict holding that there was no strict liability. The district court denied motions for judgment n.o.v. or new trial on the strict liability cause of action and rendered judgment for the defendant on this claim. The court ordered a new trial on the negligence cause of action. Trial was held, and the second jury gave a verdict for defendant on the negligence claim. The court then entered the final judgment for the defendant which is here under appeal. 20 We point out that a jury's failure to reach a verdict on every interrogatory does not prevent a court from accepting the properly-answered interrogatories. Duncan v. Barnes, 592 F.2d 1336, 1338 (5th Cir.1979); Skyway Aviation Corp. v. Minneapolis, Northfield & S. Ry., 326 F.2d 701, 704 (8th Cir.1964); Black v. Riker-Maxson Corp., 401 F.Supp. 693, 696 (S.D.N.Y.1975). Properly-answered interrogatories may support a verdict on the issues to which they respond. This is true even if other claims in the case remain unsettled. 21 Bridges' two contentions are that an inconsistent verdict was created when the jury decided the strict liability claim for defendant but was unable to reach a verdict on the negligence claim, or that the verdict reveals that the jury manifestly was confused, and thus the entire verdict of the first trial should be set aside. 22 It is the appellant's contention under the first claim that the verdict is inconsistent because it is impossible under Louisiana law to find for a defendant under a strict liability claim and yet be unable to reach a verdict on the negligence claim. The argument is that under Louisiana law the negligence claim in the case of a product or object which causes damage is nothing more than a strict liability claim with the additional requirement of defendant's knowledge of the unreasonably dangerous condition. 2 Kent v. Gulf States Utilities, supra, 418 So.2d at 497; Chappuis v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 358 So.2d 926, 929 (La.1978). 23 But whether or not this is the law of Louisiana as defined in Kent v. Gulf States Utilities, quoted above at p. 178, the appellant is not in a position to claim an inconsistent verdict. If his contention is correct and there are no further differences between strict liability and negligence liability under Louisiana law, all he has established is that there should have been no retrial of the negligence issue but that judgment should have been awarded defendant on all claims under the strict liability verdict alone. It is the defendant who could raise a substantial issue under Louisiana law as to whether it could still be liable under a negligence claim after being exonerated under a strict liability claim. There was substantial evidence in the record to support the jury's verdict on the strict liability claim. Rightly or wrongly, appellant was given the opportunity to establish defendant's negligence by a preponderance of the evidence before a new jury, and it failed to do so. If there was inconsistency, it was to the detriment of the defendant, and not appellant Bridges. 24 Bridges raises the additional point, however, that the first jury verdict indicated jury confusion and that the district court therefore erred in denying his request for a new trial on the issue of strict liability. When the jury sent out questions during its deliberations requesting clarification of the legal meanings of such terms as flammable, combustible, and explosive, the judge properly met with counsel and discussed the proposed answers to the jury questions. The judge indicated that if the parties could not agree on answers, he would order a mistrial. Bridges, however, agreed to the answers which were given to the jury. Under these circumstances, we can find no error in the jury instructions. 25 Finally, if there is general confusion, as possibly evidenced by the judge, the jury, and the parties, as to the precise scope of Louisiana law on strict liability for a dangerous product as compared to liability in negligence for a dangerous product, that confusion, as is pointed out above, was in this case to the disadvantage of the defendant, not the plaintiff. The jury was submitted a straightforward interrogatory on strict liability. Any possible confusion on that issue was cleared up by answers to jury questions to which appellant agreed. The difficult issues inherent in products liability cases can tax even the most willing and motivated of juries, and the fact that this jury requested clarification of difficult issues may well indicate clarity rather than confusion. 26 We find no reversible error. The juries properly performed their function of factfinding, and the district judge's granting of partial judgment for defendant on the strict liability claim after the first trial was not erroneous. 27 AFFIRMED.