Opinion ID: 2542999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Misconduct of Counsel during Closing Argument

Text: ¶ 14 Plaintiffs contend that Wal-Mart's counsel, Mr. Dunagan, in his closing argument to the jury, improperly vouched for the credibility of Wal-Mart's evidence and witnesses. Defendants contend that the statement was provoked by accusations made by plaintiffs' counsel. In any event, defendants argue, plaintiffs failed to properly object at trial. ¶ 15 During closing arguments plaintiffs' counsel, Mr. DeVore, alleged that Wal-Mart was guilty of hiding and destroying evidence and asserted that they falsified one of the exhibits they showed to the jury regarding the disputed U-drive on Wal-Mart's computers. In referring to Wal-Mart's Exhibit 71, Mr. De Vore stated: [the exhibit] will show you what Wal-Mart's doing. I think you can see from all the testimony what's taking place here with the witnesses and everything in the trial, Wal-Mart's holding out on us. They're holding out on you. They're not being forthright. They try to keep everything from everybody. They don't want people to know the truth. And . . . Up here at the top it says, Oh, well, it's a U-drive. Well, where did they get that from. They got it likeI don't knowlast night from somebody there at Wal-Mart? They could have walked in to their computer, renamed that in, like, ten seconds, and printed you a screen shot of that thing. And that's on somebody's computer. It's not the drive where this thing is. Let's go look now at where they go to the person that actually got the data off and gave it to us. That one's called a G-drive. And then when you get down to the bottom, it's called a G-drive, too and this is the one that's supposedly on their server. That's where the files are. That's where the disk is, down there at the drive. The drive is down on their server and they call it a G-drive. It's not a U-drive. They had to make that one up. R. p. 671, Tr., pp. 14-16 ¶ 16 In response, defense counsel, Mr. Dunagan, began his closing argument as follows:  . . . Who's interested in this case? And I am offended by Mr. DeVore's comment that I would put up on that screen an exhibit that I had an expert create that creates something false for you. I didn't become the president of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Tulsa County Bar Association, ana senior lawyeran outstanding senior lawyer in Tulsa County by putting up false evidence. I didn't become a member of the Best Lawyers in America by putting up false evidence, or the American College of Trial Lawyers by putting up false evidence. But that's what he's accused me of. I don't do that, and I wouldn't do it for a client. I can't be bought. I've never been bought, and that's what I get accused of. Tr. p. 23. ¶ 17 It is improper for counsel to vouch for the credibility of witnesses. See, 75A Am.Jur.2d Trial § 698. Improper remarks used by counsel in argument, however, are not ground for reversal where the language was provoked by remarks of counsel for the adverse party, unless it appears quite plainly that the verdict was influenced thereby. See, Cosar v. Bemo, 1955 OK 90 ¶ 8, 282 P.2d 222 . The rule applies even though the language used would otherwise warrant a reversal in the absence of such provocation. See, Helmerich & Payne, Inc. v. Nunley, 1935 OK 633 ¶ 44, 176 Okla. 246, 54 P.2d 1088; Fields v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 1976 OK 106 ¶ 54, 555 P.2d 48, 61. The prejudicial effect of an improper remark or argument vouching for the credibility of a witness also may be waived by the failure to object to such comment during trial See, 75A Am.Jur.2d Trial § 704. ¶ 18 The trial judge did not refer to the vouching statement in his ruling on the allegations of attorney misconduct in closing argument. Tr. p. 10. The trial judge ruled that there must be sufficient evidence to show that the conduct by opposing counsel clearly influenced the verdict and that no such showing was made. ¶ 19 After reviewing the proceedings, we agree with the trial judge's conclusion that there was no sufficient showing of prejudice. We also find that under the circumstances of the trial there was sufficient provocation for Mr. Dunagan's vouching remarks. Plaintiffs' counsel had accused him of presenting a false exhibit before the jury. ¶ 20 Counsel have wide latitude in opening and closing statements, subject to the trial court's control, and limitation of the scope of the arguments is within the trial court's discretion. See, Oller v. Hicks, 1967 OK 240 ¶ 16, 441 P.2d 356. There must be a showing that counsel's conduct substantially influenced the verdict and/or denied the defendant a fair trial. Wilcox Oil Co. v. Walters, 1955 OK 147 ¶ 17, 284 P.2d 726, 728. This court will defer to the trial court's denial of a motion for new trial where the motion is based on alleged misconduct of counsel unless there is a clear showing of prejudice. Clark v. Bearden, 1995 OK 71, 903 P.2d 309, 312; Oklahoma Turnpike Authority v. Daniel, 1965 OK 7 ¶ 13, 398 P.2d 515, 518. ¶ 21 Further, the plaintiffs failed to properly preserve this issue for review. Plaintiffs did not object to Mr. Dunagan's alleged vouching statements at the time they were made. Mr. DeVore later requested to approach the bench because Mr. Dunagan had put up a document that was not introduced into evidence. The judge admonished Mr. Dunagan not to put anything up that was not in evidence. At that point Mr. DeVore interjected: ` . . . Wait. I'm not through. Two other things: Number one, Mr. Dunagan improperlyand you can't get up and vouch onan attorney can not get up and vouch for the credibility of the witness and for the evidence that he presents. That is an ethical violation, It is totally improper, number one. . . . And I would need to have the Court instruct this jury that Mr. Dunagan has claimed a work product privilege on a document in disputeor I need to be able to tell the jury that . . . THE COURT: You'll argue it then. Mr. DEVORE: Okay. I'm going to tell them that. ¶ 22 The trial judge did not rule on Mr. DeVore's belated objection to the vouching statement and Mr. DeVore neither requested that the trial judge rule on the objection nor took exception to the trial judge' failure to do so. Mr. DeVore did not ask for an instruction or admonishment to the jury about the vouching remarks. Counsel instead referred to the vouching statement in his rebuttal: Well, let's straighten one thing out first because it's a big deal. I never once said Mr. Dunagan had anything to do with something improper. Never once and you all know that. In fact, what I said was that somebody over at Wal-Mart could have changed something. Mr. Dunagan isn't necessarily going to know about that. They're not going to tell him everything that's going on in all of this. I'm not saying he's behind all of it. ¶ 23 In Bateman v. Glenn, 1969 OK 158 ¶ 16, 459 P.2d 854, 858, we said that alleged prejudicial remarks of counsel in his argument to the jury are not preserved for review by this court unless objected to and exception is taken at the time the remarks are made and unless such remarks with the objection and exception are shown in the record of the proceedings of the trial. We said: If it appears that there has been misconduct in a trial, the aggrieved party may move the court to declare a mistrial, but in failing to do so will be deemed to have taken his chances with the jury. Lawton Transit Mix, Inc. v. Larson, Okl. 455 P.2d 696. In the case at bar, with regard to the vouching statement, we find that plaintiffs failed to preserve the issue for review.
¶ 24 Plaintiffs argue that defense counsel improperly implied to the jury in closing argument that the plaintiffs would have shown the jury a Price Waterhouse audit conducted by Wal-Mart if it had contained information helpful to the plaintiffs, thus implying that plaintiff's failure to introduce the audit meant that it was favorable to Wal-Mart, when Mr. Dunagan knew that the audit had in fact been withheld from production as attorney work product. ¶ 25 Wal-Mart argued that Mr. Dunagan's statements were not improper and were necessitated by Mr. DeVore's improper questioning of Wal-Mart's witness, Mr. Regard, about the audit, which improperly left the impression with the jury that the results of the audit were unfavorable to Wal-Mart. Tr. Vol. V, pp. 831-836. Wal-Mart had objected to that line of questioning and moved for a mistrial. Tr. Vol. V, pp. 874-878. ¶ 26 The trial judge found that both plaintiff and defense counsel had engaged in improper misconduct regarding the audit. Tr. of June 16, 2004, p. 10. The trial judge found that Mr. DeVore's inquiry of Wal-Mart witness Mr. Regard had opened the door to the subject of the audit. The trial judge stated that he had tried hard to consistently uphold his prior rulings regarding the audit's admissibility and that while he would have preferred that Mr. Dunagan avoid the audit entirely, there was not sufficient evidence to show that the misconduct had a direct effect on the verdict. Id. ¶ 27 We recognize that the trial court is in a better position to determine the prejudicial effect of remarks made at trial than is this Court. Willis v. Fried, 1981 OK 60 ¶ 7, 629 P.2d 1255, 1257. Even when portions of closing argument made by counsel to the jury are improper, in order for alleged misconduct of counsel in argument to the jury to effect a reversal of a judgment it must appear that substantial prejudice resulted therefrom and that the jury was influenced thereby to the material detriment of the party complaining. Oklahoma Turnpike Authority v. Daniel, 1965 OK 7 ¶ 13, 398 P.2d 515, 518. We do not find that the trial judge abused his discretion in refusing to grant a new trial on the basis of misconduct of counsel.