Opinion ID: 1378265
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: General Trial Errors

Text: S.E.T. and JM argue that certain trial errors so prejudiced the proceedings that the jury verdicts must be set aside. We agree that the closing argument of nominal defendant Danny Lynch's counsel requires the verdicts be reversed. We have also addressed certain other issues that will arise on retrial. Lynch was a nominal defendant at trial. On the last day, however, he signed a settlement which included an agreement that he receive 10% of the first $5 million recovered by T.O.F., and 27% of all amounts in excess of $5 million. During his closing argument Lynch's counsel asked for damages against S.E.T. and JM despite having been warned by the judge not to do so, and illustrated his argument with hand-drawn posters. Three posters depict men identified in the drawing with S.E.T. engaged in various acts: (1) paying off an S.E.T. witness and giving him answers to questions; (2) offering money to a blindfolded man; and (3) feeding documents into the S.E.T. shredder. The S.E.T. men all have black hair and vaguely Oriental features. The intent to identify the S.E.T. defendants with the Japanese is obvious when the drawings of the S.E.T. employees are compared with the poster depicting the bad American defendant. Another poster depicts a map of the Southeastern United States with the states served by S.E.T. colored in. A rather amorphous blob is drawn in each state; when viewed with counsel's contemporaneous argument, This is the fivestate area, and it's blown up all over the Southeast, it becomes clear that the blobs represent mushroom cloud explosions. S.E.T. made no contemporaneous objection to these posters and, in fact, did not even view their details until after all closing arguments. Even then, S.E.T. made no objection or request for a mistrial until its post-trial motions. When the issue was raised, Lynch's counsel defended the drawings saying the individuals were not intended to look Oriental, but rather were supposed to be Italian-looking. It is very telling that counsel defended the accusation he was evoking a racial prejudice by contending he was instead trying to imply an ethnic stereotype. The trial judge ruled S.E.T. had waived any objection to the posters because the objection came too late, and denied a new trial motion on this ground. The general rule is that the lack of a contemporaneous objection to an improper argument acts as a waiver. Varnadore v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 289 S.C. 155, 345 S.E.2d 711 (1986). This Court has held, however, that even in the absence of a contemporaneous objection, a new trial motion should be granted in flagrant cases where a vicious, inflammatory argument results in clear prejudice. South Carolina Highway Dept. v. Nasim, 255 S.C. 406, 179 S.E.2d 211 (1977). We can hardly conceive of a more outrageous argument than that made here. While we do not condone S.E.T.'s failure to make a contemporaneous objection, we find it would be wholly unreasonable for any attorney to anticipate this type of abhorrent conduct. Prejudice is clear, especially since the trial judge found it necessary to remit the actual damages awarded to T.O.F. We reverse and remand both jury verdicts against S.E.T. and JM under the extraordinary circumstances here. S.E.T. and JM also seek reversal because of the testimony of nominal defendants Lynch and Nardelli and the actions of their attorneys who, throughout the trial, advanced the plaintiffs' cause and impugned the defense. While we express grave reservations about the impact of these actions on the fairness of the original trial, we do not reverse on this ground having already reversed because of the improper closing argument. We are confident the parties' rights to a fair trial can be protected in any future proceeding. For example, parties can ask the trial court to sever claims, and can ask that attorneys not be allowed to argue evidentiary issues adverse to their clients' positions. If these types of requests are made and granted, the trial court should not hesitate to grant a mistrial where its rulings are violated to the prejudice of those they are intended to protect.