Opinion ID: 1125042
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the Circuit Court Denied the Liability Defendants a Fair Trial

Text: The Liability Defendants contend that the circuit court denied the Liability Defendants a fair trial through the cumulative effect of the following three alleged errors: (1) sanctioning one of the Liability Defendants, DuPont, for its discovery misconduct by instructing the jury that it could consider DuPont's discovery misconduct in deciding the merits of the case; (2) denying the Liability Defendants' motions to realign the parties; and (3) denying the Liability Defendants' motion for a mistrial after counsel for the Plaintiffs referred to a verdict against DuPont in another case. We disagree. The fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1, section 5, of the Hawai`i Constitution guarantee that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process, and a fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process. State v. Brown, 70 Haw. 459, 466, 776 P.2d 1182, 1187 (1989) (citation, internal quotation marks, and original brackets omitted). Thus, the Liability Defendants draw our attention to State v. Soares, 72 Haw. 278, 815 P.2d 428 (1991), as an example of how the cumulative effect of errors can result in the denial of a fair trial. In Soares, [a]lthough no single instance of prosecutorial misconduct substantially prejudiced appellants' right to a fair trial, we held that the cumulative weight of the prosecutor's improper conduct was so prejudicial as to deny appellants a fair trial. Id. at 283, 815 P.2d at 431. As our individual analysis of the three instances of alleged errors shows, in two instances, the circuit court did not err, and, in the third instance, the circuit court's error was harmless. In light of the overwhelming and substantial evidence supporting the jury's verdict, we hold that the cumulative effect of the three alleged errors did not deny the Liability Defendants their constitutional right to a fair trial.
With respect to the Liability Defendants' contention that the circuit court deprived them of their right to a fair trial by giving the jury an erroneous remedial jury instruction, we initially note that a circuit court is given broad discretion in determining the sanctions to be imposed pursuant to [HRCP] Rule 37(b)(2). Wong v. City and County of Honolulu, 66 Haw. 389, 394, 665 P.2d 157, 161 (1983). A circuit court's imposition of a discovery abuse sanction is reviewable on appeal for abuse of discretion. A [circuit] court abuses its discretion whenever it exceeds the bounds of reason or disregards rules or principles of law or practice to the substantial detriment of a party. Aloha Unlimited, Inc. v. Coughlin, 79 Hawai`i 527, 532-33, 904 P.2d 541, 546-47 (App.1995) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The circuit court gave the remedial jury instruction as a sanction for DuPont's discovery misconduct involving the Alta documents. In October 1994, during the defense phase of the trial, the Plaintiffs learned that plaintiffs in a Benlate-related case in Texas had obtained six boxes of Alta documents relating to testing of soils for Benlate contamination that DuPont had failed to produce in response to previous discovery requests by the Plaintiffs in the instant case. As a result, the Plaintiffs moved for sanctions against DuPont, alleging that DuPont should have previously produced all of these Alta documents during the discovery phase of this litigation. The circuit court granted the Plaintiffs' motion, finding that DuPont had intentionally withheld the information and documents. The circuit court eventually sanctioned DuPont by, among other things, reading the following remedial instruction to the jury: In considering the issues of this case, you may consider Defendant Du Pont's withholding of this evidence and give it the weight, if any, you deem appropriate. The Liability Defendants contend that, in so doing, the circuit court erred because the remedial jury instruction, in effect, allowed the jury to impose sanctions against the Liability Defendants. Under HRCP Rule 37(b)(2), the circuit court may sanction a party for failing to comply with a discovery order. In addition to its authority under HRCP Rule 37(b)(2), a circuit court may sanction parties for abusive litigation practices in a proceeding before it in accordance with HRS ง 603-21.9(1) and (6) (1993) and its inherent powers. Azer v. Courthouse Racquetball Corp., 9 Haw.App. 530, 549, 852 P.2d 75, 86 (1993). For example, under HRS ง 603-21.9(1) and (6), [t]he several circuit courts shall have power: (1) To make and issue all orders and writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their original or appellate jurisdiction; .... (6) To make and award such judgments, decrees, orders, and mandates, issue such executions and other processes, and do such other acts and take such other steps as may be necessary to carry into full effect the powers which are or shall be given to them by law or for the promotion of justice in matters pending before them. Additionally, we have specifically noted that courts have inherent equity, supervisory, and administrative powers as well as inherent power to control the litigation process before them. Inherent powers of the court are derived from the state Constitution and are not confined by or dependent on statute. Among courts' inherent powers are the powers to create a remedy for a wrong even in the absence of specific statutory remedies, and to prevent unfair results. The courts also have inherent power to curb abuses and promote a fair process which extends to the preclusion of evidence and may include dismissal in severe circumstances. It follows that if the trial court has the inherent power to level the ultimate sanction of dismissal, it necessarily has the power to take all reasonable steps short of dismissal, depending on the equities of the case. Richardson v. Sport Shinko (Waikiki Corp.), 76 Hawai`i 494, 507, 880 P.2d 169, 182 (1994) (citations, internal quotation marks, original brackets, and footnote omitted). The Plaintiffs in the instant case cite Richardson in support of their position that the circuit court did not err by giving the remedial jury instruction. In Richardson, the plaintiff suffered an injury in a hotel when she knelt down on a staple hidden in the carpeting of a hotel conference room. Although the defendant hotel failed to comply with discovery by not producing an original copy of an incident report that the hotel manager had prepared as a result of the accident, the trial court rejected the plaintiff's proposed remedial jury instruction addressing the defendant's discovery misconduct: During the testimony of [the defendant]'s employee Mary Guerrero, a copy of an Incident Report which Mary Guerrero testified she wrote was marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 25. The original Incident Report written by Mary Guerrero was and still may be in the custody and control of [the defendant], but the original document was never produced by [the defendant]. The original document may have contained information different from the information in Exhibit 25. The jury may consider the absence of the original Incident Report and [the defendant]'s failure to produce the original report in its deliberations, and may infer from the absence of the original report that it contained information favorable to the Plaintiffs in this case. Id. at 506, 880 P.2d at 181. However, on appeal, we specifically noted that the trial court had the inherent power to provide a remedial jury instruction addressing the loss of the original incident report if it deemed such a measure appropriate. Id. at 508, 880 P.2d at 183. In reaching our holding, we reiterated three factors that we had utilized in determining whether a discovery sanction was appropriate: (1) the offending party's culpability, if any, in destroying or withholding discoverable evidence that the opposing party had formally requested through discovery; (2) whether the opposing party suffered any resulting prejudice as a result of the offending party's destroying or withholding the discoverable evidence; and (3) the inequity that would occur in allowing the offending party to accrue a benefit from its conduct. Id. at 507, 880 P.2d at 182. Applying these three factors to the instant case: (1) the circuit court specifically found that DuPont had intentionally withheld numerous documents in blatant violation of previous court orders compelling discovery of those documents; (2) because the documents could be interpreted as demonstrating liability on the part of the Liability Defendants, DuPont's withholding these documents prejudiced the Plaintiffs; and (3) it would be inequitable for DuPont to benefit from its own discovery misconduct and the Plaintiffs' inability to acquire possession of inculpating documents prior to the commencement of trial. Based on the three factors that we utilized in Richardson, severe sanctions against DuPont for its inexcusable discovery misconduct were clearly justified. However, the facts of Richardson are distinguishable from the instant case. While the defendant in Richardson never produced the original copy of the incident report, DuPont eventually did produce, albeit belatedly, the Alta documents. Furthermore, the power to sanction a party for discovery misconduct is within the exclusive province of the circuit court, not the jury. This is self-evident from a reading of HRCP Rule 37(b), which allows the circuit court to sanction a party that fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery. See also HRS งง 603-21.9(1) and (6) (1993). The circuit court disregarded this principle and, thus, abused its discretion by instructing the jurors that they could consider DuPont's withholding of the Alta documents and give it any weight they deemed appropriate. Nevertheless, in light of the overwhelming evidence that supported the jury's verdict, a California appellate court's decision in Vallbona v. Springer, 43 Cal.App.4th 1525, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 311 (1996), is instructive. In Vallbona, a physician's former patients alleged fraud against the physician, his wife, and a clinic. The physician had performed a controversial medical procedure, and, although he initially claimed that he had indirectly applied for federal approval of the controversial medical procedure, he subsequently took the position that he could not comply with the plaintiffs' discovery requests to produce the application documents because the documents had been stolen. However, some of the purportedly stolen documents eventually turned up during trial. As a result, the trial court sanctioned the physician by instructing the jury that the physician had no pending application for federal approval of his disputed medical procedure and no empirical data to substantiate his claims in his brochures on the medical procedure rather than otherwise allowing the jurors to make this factual determination for themselves. Id. 51 Cal.Rptr.2d at 325. On appeal, the California Court of Appeals held that the trial court acted within its discretion [by] imposing the issue sanction tailored to the defendants' particular discovery misuse and in implementing that sanction by instructing the jury that various facts should be taken as established against defendants. Id. at 326-27. More significantly, however, the Vallbona court stated that even if we deemed the challenged special jury instruction to be error, we would conclude defendants suffered no prejudice since on this record it is not reasonably likely an outcome more favorable to defendants would have resulted absent any such error. Id. at 327. We agree with the Vallbona court's statement that, even when a trial court abuses its discretion in a civil trial by giving the jury an inappropriate remedial instruction, we will nevertheless affirm the jury's verdict when it appears from the record as a whole that it is not reasonably likely that an outcome more favorable to the defendant would have resulted absent the error, and, thus, the defendant suffered no prejudice. As we have previously stated, erroneous instructions are presumptively harmful and are a ground for reversal unless it affirmatively appears from the record as a whole that the error was not prejudicial. State ex rel. Bronster v. United States Steel Corp., 82 Hawai`i 32, 51, 919 P.2d 294, 313 (1996) (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The evidence adduced at trial overwhelmingly supported the jury's verdict regarding liability, damages, and punitive damages. We hold that, under the circumstances of this case, it affirmatively appears from the record as a whole that DuPont and the other Liability Defendants did not suffer prejudice as a result of the circuit court's inappropriate remedial jury instruction. Thus, although the circuit court abused its discretion through this particular sanction, we hold that the circuit court's error was harmless.
The Liability Defendants contend that the circuit court denied the Liability Defendants a fair trial by denying the Liability Defendants' motions to realign the parties. We disagree. A circuit court has the discretion to realign the parties at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just. Cawthon v. Waco Fire and Cas. Ins. Co., 259 Ga. 632, 386 S.E.2d 32, 33 (1989). A trial court's ruling on a motion for realignment is reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard. Id. Although the Liability Defendants assert that the circuit court's failure to realign the parties resulted in manifest and severe prejudice to DuPont and the other Liability Defendants, the only form of prejudice to which the Liability Defendants specifically refer is the fact that the circuit court allocated two of the defense's eight total peremptory challenges to the Declaratory Defendants. In support of their argument, the Liability Defendants primarily rely on Cawthon, supra . In Cawthon, an automobile struck and killed the Cawthons' son while he was attempting to cross a three-lane highway to catch a school bus. Waco Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. (Waco) had issued an insurance policy to the board of education covering school bus accidents. While the Cawthons' wrongful death action was pending, Waco filed a declaratory action against the Cawthons and the board of education, seeking a determination that the insurance policy did not cover the accident. Before trial, the Cawthons moved the trial court to realign the board of education as a plaintiff, i.e., a co-plaintiff with Waco. In particular, the Cawthons were concerned that they would otherwise be forced to share half of their jury strikes, i.e., peremptory challenges, with the board of education, whose interests were clearly adverse to the Cawthons' interests. The trial court denied the motion to realign because it had no authority to realign parties. Id. 386 S.E.2d at 33. However, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court did have the discretion to realign the parties in the interest of justice. The Cawthon court noted that multiple parties that are aligned on the same side of a case and have adverse interests are not entitled to additional peremptory strikes[.] Id. Thus, if the trial court had exercised its discretion and denied the Cawthons' motion to realign, the denial would have been an abuse of discretion under the circumstances of this case. Those circumstances include the fact that the denial would have given (as did the court's failure to exercise its discretion) the Cawthons only three jury strikes, but would have given the parties asserting contrary legal and factual contentions nine jury strikes. Id. However, the instant case is distinguishable from Cawthon in that, unlike the co-parties in Cawthon, the Liability Defendants did not have to split half of the defense's eight total peremptory challenges with their co-defendants, the Declaratory Defendants. The circuit court allocated only two of the defense's eight peremptory challenges to the declaratory defendants, and, thus, the Liability Defendants retained the remaining six peremptory challenges for themselves. Meanwhile Kawamata Farms and the Tomono Plaintiffs shared a total of eight peremptory challenges. Therefore, the effect of the circuit court's denying the motions to realign in the instant case was much less severe for the Liability Defendants than it was for the co-parties in Cawthon. Although the Liability Defendants had two less peremptory challenges than the Plaintiffs, [e]xact numerical equality between sides is not the purpose of equalization of peremptory challenges. Rather, the purpose is to equalize the positions of the parties to prevent one side, antagonistic among the parties on certain matters of fact with which they will be concerned, but primarily united in opposition to the other side, from selecting the jury. Diamond Shamrock Corp. v. Wendt, 718 S.W.2d 766, 769 (Tex.Ct.App.1986) (citation omitted). Under HRS ง 635-29(b) (1993), a circuit court is authorized to require co-parties to share peremptory challenges: ง 635-29 Challenging peremptorily.... (b) In civil cases each party shall be allowed to challenge peremptorily three jurors, without assigning any reason therefor. Where there are two or more plaintiffs or two or more defendants, they may be considered as a single party for the purposes of making peremptory challenges, or the court may allow additional peremptory challenges and permit them to be exercised separately or jointly. If additional peremptory challenges are allowed to the parties on one side, the opposing party or parties may be allowed additional peremptory challenges. .... (Emphasis added). The determination of whether the trial court erred in allocation [of peremptory challenges] is made at the time it makes its decision and not upon hindsight. American Cyanamid Co. v. Frankson, 732 S.W.2d 648, 653 (Tex.Ct.App.1987) (citation omitted). Moreover, a judgment will not be reversed unless the error in awarding peremptory challenges to a litigant, or to multiple litigants having the same interest, is shown to be prejudicial. In order to prove the existence of prejudice, the complaining party must show that it exhausted his peremptory challenges and that a prospective juror, who the challenging party would have otherwise stricken, served on the jury. Carter v. Tom's Truck Repair, Inc., 857 S.W.2d 172, 177-78 (Mo.1993) (citations omitted). The Liability Defendants have neither shown that they exhausted their peremptory challenges nor that a prospective juror, whom they would have otherwise challenged, served on the jury. Therefore, the Liability Defendants' argument, i.e., that the circuit court's denial of the motions for realignment adversely affected the number of peremptory challenges at their disposal, lacks merit. Under these circumstances, the circuit court did not clearly exceed the bounds of reason or disregarded rules or principles of law or practice to the substantial detriment of the Liability Defendants by denying their motions to realign the parties. Therefore, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion, and we affirm the circuit court's orders denying these motions.
The Liability Defendants contend that the circuit court deprived the Liability Defendants of a fair trial by denying their motion for a mistrial after the Plaintiffs' counsel referred to a verdict from another case against DuPont. We disagree. A motion for mistrial should be granted when there is an occurrence of such character and magnitude that a party is denied the right to a fair trial. Aga v. Hundahl, 78 Hawai`i 230, 245, 891 P.2d 1022, 1037 (1995). Appellate review of a trial court's ruling on a motion for mistrial is under the abuse of discretion standard. Id. During opening statements in the instant case, counsel for the Plaintiffs made the following reference to a verdict against DuPont in a Texas case, Peterson Brothers, Inc. v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Co. and Greenlight Chemical Co., Case No. 91-CI-12100, 24th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, Texas (hereinafter  Greenlight ), involving Benlate: [COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFFS]: ... Du PontโDu Pont had a case in the '80's in Texas involving an allegation that Benlate had the same kind ofโgaseous something was coming off the DBU was coming off. We haven't put the whole memo up here. But this is the last page of the memo that talks about that litigation. And in this case, where they actually went to court, and they had a verdict against them, thisโ [COUNSEL FOR DUPONT]: Excuse me, Your Honor, that is highly improper, and [counsel for the Plaintiffs] knows that. Following the objection, counsel for DuPont moved for a mistrial. After hearing the parties' arguments regarding the relevance of the verdict, the circuit court concluded that some issues in Greenlight were relevant to the instant case, and, thus, denied the motion for a mistrial. The Liability Defendants argue that the circuit court erred by denying the motion for a mistrial because [a] jury is likely to give a prior verdict against the same defendant more weight than it warrants. The admission of a prior verdict creates the possibility that the jury will defer to the earlier result and this will, effectively, decide a case on evidence not before it. Coleman Motor Co. v. Chrysler Corp., 525 F.2d 1338, 1351 (3d Cir.1975). In response, the Plaintiffs assert that, even assuming, arguendo, that the circuit court erred by basing its denial of the motion on its conclusion that some issues in Greenlight were relevant to the instant case, such error was harmless, because the reference by the Plaintiffs' counsel was not an occurrence of such character and magnitude that it denied the Liability Defendants their right to a fair trial. In support of their argument, the Plaintiffs cite to Harned v. Dura Corp., 665 P.2d 5 (Alaska 1983), in which a plaintiff brought a products liability suit against the successor of an alleged manufacturer of a portable compressed air tank to recover for injuries that he sustained when the tank exploded. During opening statements at the trial, defense counsel made a reference to other verdicts from similar cases in which the manufacturer had prevailed. When the plaintiff subsequently attempted to introduce testimony that would have rebutted defense counsel's opening statement about the other verdicts, the trial court sustained defense counsel's objection that such rebuttal testimony was irrelevant, and, during closing arguments, the trial court additionally refused to allow the plaintiff to offer a rebuttal argument regarding the other verdicts. On appeal, the Alaska Supreme Court noted that prior verdicts are not relevant in subsequent trials involving different parties and factual settings. It follows that it [wa]s improper for [defense] counsel to advert to the disposition of the same or similar cases during argument to the jury. Id. at 8. The propriety of references to the disposition of prior cases must be distinguished from the propriety of references to the incidents which generated such litigation. Id. at 8 n. 8. Because defense counsel's reference to the other verdicts was improper, the plaintiff's proffered testimony or argument should have been allowed under the doctrine of curative admissibility. Id. at 9 (internal quotation marks and footnote omitted). Nevertheless, the Harned court held that this error was harmless because the exclusion of [the plaintiff]'s rebuttal evidence and argument [wa]s not sufficiently prejudicial to warrant reversal. Id. (citations omitted). Our conclusion that the error was harmless rests on the fact that a week intervened between opening arguments and submission of the case to the jury for deliberation. During that period, the jury heard several days of testimony from numerous witnesses. Throughout this testimony, no further mention was made regarding prior litigation, nor was the questioned statement reiterated by [defense] counsel during closing argument. Of further significance is the fact that the jury was specifically instructed it was to consider only the evidence in the case and that statements and arguments of Counsel are not evidence in this case. Thus we think it unlikely that the jury ignored all the testimony which was produced as well as the trial court's admonition, and reached its decision on the basis of an ambiguous remark made by [defense] counsel in his opening argument. Under these circumstances, we conclude that [the plaintiff] was not substantially prejudiced by the exclusion of rebuttal evidence or argument he sought to make. Therefore, we hold that the superior court's ruling did not constitute prejudicial error. Id. at 10 (original brackets omitted). We agree with the Harned court that it is generally improper for counsel to refer to other verdicts during opening statements. The reference by the Plaintiffs' counsel to the Greenlight verdict was improper. Therefore, it was error for the circuit court to base its denial of the Liability Defendants' subsequent motion for a mistrial on its conclusion that some issues in Greenlight were relevant to the instant case. However, [o]rdinarily a prevailing party's opening statement is not a ground for reversal unless the adversary's substantive rights have been prejudiced. Lussier v. Mau-Van Development, Inc., 4 Haw.App. 359, 394, 667 P.2d 804, 827 (1983) (citations omitted). In order to warrant a mistrial, the improper reference to the Greenlight verdict had to constitute an occurrence of such character and magnitude that it denied the Liability Defendants their right to a fair trial. Aga, 78 Hawai`i at 245, 891 P.2d at 1037. As in Harned, the improper reference by the Plaintiffs' counsel to the verdict in Greenlight was extremely brief during the Plaintiffs' opening statement. Furthermore, the Liability Defendants do not claim that the Plaintiffs' counsel subsequently made any further references to the verdict in Greenlight during the remainder of the seven-month trial, which was much longer in duration than the one week trial in Harned. The Plaintiffs also note that the circuit court instructed the jury throughout trial that the statements of counsel were not evidence. As a rule, we presume that the jury followed the circuit court's instructions. Knight, 80 Hawai`i at 327, 909 P.2d at 1142; Tawata, 79 Hawai`i at 21, 897 P.2d at 948. Therefore, in light of the brevity of the improper reference to the Greenlight verdict by the Plaintiffs' counsel during his opening argument, the seven-month duration of the trial, the circuit court's instructions to the jury, and the overwhelming evidence in the record supporting the jury's verdict, we hold that, although it was improper for the Plaintiffs' counsel to refer to the verdict in Greenlight during opening statements, this reference did not constitute an occurrence of such character and magnitude that it denied the Liability Defendants their right to a fair trial. Aga, 78 Hawai`i at 245, 891 P.2d at 1037. Although we might not agree with all of the circuit court's reasoning in denying the Liability Defendants' motion for a mistrial, where the circuit court's decision is correct, its conclusion will not be disturbed on the ground that it gave the wrong reason for its ruling. Delos Reyes v. Kuboyama, 76 Hawai`i 137, 140, 870 P.2d 1281, 1284 (1994) (citations omitted). Accordingly, we hold that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion by denying the Liability Defendants' motion for a mistrial. In summary, although the circuit court made some errors in the trial, such errors were harmless and insubstantial. We hold that the circuit court did not deny the Liability Defendants their constitutional right to a fair trial by: (1) sanctioning one of the Liability Defendants, DuPont, for its discovery misconduct by instructing the jury that it could consider DuPont's discovery misconduct in deciding the merits of the case; (2) denying the Liability Defendants' motions to realign the parties; and (3) denying the Liability Defendants' motion for a mistrial after the Plaintiffs' counsel referred to the Greenlight verdict against DuPont.