Opinion ID: 2084543
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure of Juror Number Five to Deliberate on Two Interrogatories

Text: The Appellate Division stated that, apart from the reasons articulated by the trial court for requiring a new trial, the failure of one juror to deliberate on all issues violated Williams and itself required a new trial. We disagree. The record indicates that although the foreperson reported that Juror Number Five voted on all questions, Juror Number Five stated that she did not answer two interrogatories because the verdict sheet instructed her not to do so. Question number one read, Did defendant Dr. Podolnick deviate from the accepted standards of medical practice? Following that question, the verdict sheet stated, If yes, go on to the next question; if no, skip to question 4. Question number two read, Did defendant Dr. Podolnick's deviation increase the risk of harm posed by Elaine Brown's stomach cancer? Following that question, the verdict sheet stated, If yes, go on to the next question; if no skip to question 4. The Appellate Division noted the ambiguity in that instruction and said, the sample jury verdict form and its accompanying instruction should make clear the distinction between the individual `you' and the collective `you' which led to this problem. That court observed that the trial judge could have sent the jury back to deliberate with a full instruction after Juror 5 indicated her failure to participate on several questions. Had he done so, the problem presented could have been remedied. Id. at 9. We believe, as did the Appellate Division, that if the trial court was concerned that the verdict sheet caused a juror not to answer certain interrogatories, the court should have sent the jury back for further deliberations. Moreover, the record does not reveal the extent to which Juror Number Five actually participated in the jury deliberations on questions two and three, but it does reflect that she was substantially involved in the entire deliberative process. Juror Number Five voted on question number one, answering that Podolnick did not deviate from the accepted standard of medical care. She stated that she did not answer questions two and three that ask respectively whether Podolnick's deviation increased the risk of harm posed by Brown's cancer and whether the increased risk was a substantial factor in reducing Brown's life expectancy. As noted, the jury foreperson's report to the trial court, in contrast to Juror Number Five's recollection, was that the initial vote on question two was 6-1, the initial vote on question three was 7-0 in the negative, and the corrected vote on question three was 7-0 in the affirmative. [2] Thus, according to the foreperson's report, Juror Number Five did vote on questions two and three, which report in that respect is consistent with the jury verdict sheet included in the record. Furthermore, Juror Number Five voted on all remaining questions, including question number seven that apportioned damages resulting from defendants' negligence. Even though Juror Number Five found that Podolnick was not negligent, she voted for a 15% apportionment of liability against him for Brown's loss of chance of survival or a cure. Because Juror Number Five voted in favor of apportioning liability to Podolnick, we can reasonably infer that she participated to some extent in the jury's discussion of questions two and three, because her vote on apportionment required her to consider the extent of harm caused by Podolnick's negligence. Accordingly, it can fairly be said that Juror Number Five's deliberations on the apportionment of liability to Podolnick implicated to some extent deliberation on the question whether Podolnick's negligence was a causative factor in reducing Brown's life expectancy. We also note that Juror Number Five voted and deliberated on pain and suffering damages, finding that Podolnick's negligence was the proximate cause of Brown's pain and suffering and allocating 20% of the liability to Podolnick and 80% to Landset. That finding by Juror Number Five also required her to deliberate on causation in regard to Podolnick in order to determine his share of responsibility for pain and suffering damages. In addition, when reporting the vote count on questions two and three, the jury foreperson told the court that the vote was 6-1 on question two and 7-0 on question three. A jury member explained to the court that when the jury voted, [w]e kind of just raised our hands and he recorded them all on the sheet. Because Juror Number Five's votes were recorded by the jury foreperson, we can reasonably infer that the foreperson understood Juror Number Five's position that Podolnick was not negligent and that his negligence was not a proximate cause of Brown's injuries, even though she informed the court that she did not vote on those questions. Although we do not know the precise extent of the jury's deliberations on each question, petitioner nevertheless received the statutorily and constitutionally-required number of votes for a valid verdict. By a 6-1 vote, the jury found that Podolnick was negligent. By a 6-0 vote, the jury found that his negligence was a proximate cause of reducing Brown's life expectancy. By a 7-0 vote, the jury found that Landset was negligent and that his negligence was a proximate cause of reducing Brown's life expectancy. By a 6-1 vote, Juror Number Five voting with the majority, the jury apportioned liability between the two defendants and found that Brown should be compensated $700,000 for her reduced life expectancy. By a 7-0 vote, the jury found that Brown should be awarded $50,000 in pain and suffering damages. Therefore, petitioner received a statutorily and constitutionally valid verdict. In Williams, we held that jurors should deliberate on every question irrespective of how they voted on previous questions. We emphasized that a court must convey to the jurors their responsibilities with sufficient clarity, and stated: A trial court in presenting special interrogatories or eliciting special verdicts from a jury must specifically instruct the jury that each juror must determine and decide each question, that a juror is not required to vote consistently on each question and may vote inconsistently on questions, that each juror must consider each question with an open mind, that each juror must determine each question fairly and impartially based on the evidence, and that it is proper to accept the determination of at least five of the jurors on any question when that determination is relevant or essential in deciding another question. [ Williams, supra, 113 N.J. at 633, 552 A. 2d 153.] We thus held that a juror cannot be precluded from voting on issues of damages even if he or she previously had found no liability. We did not address in Williams the consequences of a juror not voting on a specific interrogatory. In our view, the evidence in this record persuasively argues against a rule of automatic reversal and suggests instead that the better rule is to consider the issue in the context of specific facts. Based on this record, we are satisfied that reversal of the first trial verdict based on a juror's alleged failure to vote on two questions concerning causation is inappropriate and unjust. The trial court had the opportunity to send the jury back for further deliberations once it was informed that she had been confused by the ambiguous verdict sheet. The court failed to do so. In addition, Juror Number Five's answers to the other interrogatories reflect her substantial participation in deliberations concerning Podolnick's causal responsibility. Although she found Podolnick not negligent, she voted with the majority of jurors 6-1 to apportion liability against him, and also voted with the majority to hold Podolnick liable for pain and suffering and on the apportionment of his liability for those damages. Even if the court had sent the jury back to deliberate further in order to require Juror Number Five to vote on questions two and three, we are satisfied that the outcome would not have been any different. Finally, there was no constitutional violation. Petitioner had a jury of more than six members and received the statutorily and constitutionally required five-sixths vote on each question. Accordingly, we are satisfied that in the context of this record reversal of the first trial jury verdict based on Juror Number Five's alleged failure to vote on questions two and three would constitute a miscarriage of justice.