Opinion ID: 2609775
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Advice to Jury Regarding Consequences of its Verdict Under Section 109

Text: Appellants claim that the trial court should have informed the jury of the facts surrounding the claim and settlement and the amount of the settlement with Anselmi and Sleeping Indian Outfitters to satisfy its obligation to inform the jury of the consequences of its determination of the percentage of fault as required by W.S. 1-1-109(b)(i)(B) (1988). The phrase in our statute which requires the judge to [i]nform the jury of the consequences of its determination of the percentage of fault is atypical. It is not found in states which have a similar comparative negligence statute. See Wis.Stat.Ann. § 895.045 (West 1983); Mont.Code Ann. § 27-1-702 (1991); Okla.Stat.Ann. Tit. 23, § 13 (West 1987); Minn.Stat.Ann. § 604.01 (West 1991); N.D.Cent.Code § 9-10-07 (1987). Wyoming Statute 1-1-109(b)(i)(B) provides: The court may, and when requested by any party shall:       Inform the jury of the consequences of its determination of the percentage of fault. The trial court gave the following instruction to the jury: INSTRUCTION NO. 7 The case must be determined on the basis of comparative fault of the parties involved in the occurrence.          It will be necessary for you to determine the percentage of fault, if any, of each of the parties involved in the occurrence. It also will be necessary for you to determine the amount of damages sustained [by] the plaintiff. Your findings as to fault will affect the plaintiff's recovery. It is my duty to explain how that may occur. First, should you determine that if the plaintiff's fault exceeds fifty percent, the plaintiff will not be entitled to recover any damages. Second, the defendant's liability for damages is limited by the percentage of fault which you determine is attributable to him and he will only be liable to pay that percentage of the total damages. In explaining the consequences of your verdict, the court has not meant to imply that any of the parties are at fault. That is for you to decide in conformity with these instructions. [emphasis added] Appellants did not object to Instruction No. 7. W.R.C.P. 51 [3] provided in part: At the close of the evidence, or at such earlier time as the court reasonably directs, any party may file written requests that the court instruct the jury on the law as set forth in the requests. A direction by the court that requests be filed prior to the close of the evidence shall not preclude any party from filing any subsequent request necessitated by the evidence and not reasonably anticipated by the party prior to the time of filing. Before the argument of the case to the jury is begun, the court shall give to the jury such instructions on the law as may be necessary and same shall be in writing, numbered and signed by the judge, and shall be taken by the jury when it retires. No party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection. Opportunity shall be given to make any such objection out of the hearing of the jury. [emphasis added] The purpose of W.R.C.P. 51 is to provide the trial court with an opportunity to correct any potential error by requiring that objections be made before the instructions are given to the jury. Goggins v. Harwood, 704 P.2d 1282, 1289 (Wyo.1985). Appellants did present a motion before trial that the trial court instruct the jury concerning the settling defendants on the grounds that the jury was entitled to know the consequences of its determination as to the percentage of fault. Appellants' motion was not presented at the close of evidence, per W.R.C.P. 51, nor did appellants object to Instruction No. 7. The motion, therefore, did not satisfy the requirement of W.R.C.P. 51 and did not adequately make the trial court aware of a potential error in sufficient time to be corrected. The procedural problem with making the objection in the form of a motion preceding the instruction conference, rather than an objection at the instruction conference, is made obvious in this record. We are unable to locate a ruling on this particular motion. Perhaps the trial court considered this motion to be similar to one previously ruled on and therefore assumed it was implicitly denied. Appellants did not request a ruling from the trial court. They may have assumed it had been previously ruled upon as well. The loss of continuity in the handling of this motion makes clear that a motion for a jury instruction cannot take the place of presentation of an alternative instruction or an objection at the instruction conference. Even if appellants had not failed procedurally in their opposition to Instruction No. 7, their argument would fail substantively. We hold that Instruction No. 7 was properly given and accurately informed the jury of the consequences of its determination of the percentage of fault as required by W.S. 1-1-109(b)(i)(B). Appellants' disagreement with the instruction centers on their interpretation of consequences of its determination of the percentage of fault in W.S. 1-1-109(b)(i)(B). Under appellants' interpretation, this phrase would encompass informing the jury of the fact and amount of settlement with other entities no longer parties to the litigation. This statutory language has been interpreted in practice as requiring only that the jury be told that if the plaintiff's percentage of negligence is more than 50 percent, the plaintiff will not recover and that a defendant who is liable will only pay in proportion to his percentage of fault. See Wyoming Civil Pattern Jury Instructions 10.01A, 10.03A (1988). Instruction No. 7 is nearly identical to Instruction Nos. 10.01A and 10.03A of the Wyoming Civil Pattern Jury Instructions. In Coryell v. Town of Pinedale, 745 P.2d 883 (Wyo.1987), we held that the language allows the trial court to inform the jury of the consequences of its verdict by giving an instruction on the law of joint and several liability as affected by percentages of negligence. Coryell, 745 P.2d at 886. In Harmon v. Town of Afton, 745 P.2d 889 (Wyo. 1987), we followed our previous Coryell interpretation of the phrase in Section 114. Harmon and Coryell were decided under the 1977 version of W.S. 1-1-109 and 1-1-114. Harmon, 745 P.2d at 892. In 1986 the legislature eliminated the doctrine of joint and several liability and substituted a provision that each defendant is liable only to the extent of his percentage of fault as compared to all other actors whether or not parties to the action. Joint LiabilityRepeal, 1986 Wyo.Sess. Laws ch. 24. In Harmon and Coryell we viewed this phrase as a part of the joint and several liability scheme about which the court should inform the jury. The same reasons for allowing the court to inform the jury of the effect of joint and several liability exist for informing the jury of the effect of a defendant's percentage of negligence under the amended comparative fault scheme. The jury is to be informed of the consequences of its determination of the plaintiff's percentage of fault, defendant's and other actors' percentages of fault, only in the context of explaining that the court will reduce the amount of damages by the percentage of fault attributed to the plaintiff and that each defendant is liable only for the proportion of total damages determined by the percentage of fault attributed to that defendant. Informing the jury of those consequences is all that the phrase encompasses. In cases in which the jury will determine percentage of negligence of several persons, some parties and some not, care should be exercised to assure that the jury is not left with the impression that plaintiff has, has not, or will not recover from persons not parties to the case before them. This is in accord with W.R.E. 408. If a better public policy would be to inform the jury of more concerning settling defendants, then that ought to be accomplished by amendment to the Wyoming Rules of Evidence or by legislative enactment.