Opinion ID: 2509187
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: capshaw failed timely to except to the blank verdict form

Text: ¶ 12 Capshaw's contention is, in essence, twofold: (1) the blank verdict form was fraught with a fatal facial defect and (2) this defect operated to taint the jury's decision against awarding damages. Coronado's COCA briefs (although not his certiorari materials) urge that Capshaw failed timely to except to the verdict form and hence waived the error he later alleged in his new-trial motion. [29] Concern over whether an efficacious exception to the form was indeed made by Capshaw may explain his characterization of the form as tainted by fundamental error. [30] The record is clear that neither party excepted to the blank verdict form before its submission to the jury. [31] The trial judge's sua sponte challenge to the form in his post-trial colloquy with counsel was the basis of Capshaw's new-trial motion. [32] Although COCA's opinion did not address whether Capshaw made a timely challenge to the blank form and hence preserved the asserted defect as a basis for his new-trial motion, we must examine Coronado's argument in light of the scenario revealed by the record. [33] ¶ 13 An allegation of error in a motion for new trial must be based on an error preserved in the course of trial proceedings. [34] If the motion is rested on an error that does not stand preserved for review, it is of no avail as a party's support for its new-trial quest. [35] Oklahoma's extant jurisprudence reveals that an exception to an alleged defect in a blank verdict form must be lodged before the form is given to the jury and that failure to do so constitutes waiver of the error. [36] Here, both parties submitted proposed verdict forms for the court's use and both were aware of the blank form submitted by the court. Neither party excepted. [37] The nisi prius judge's post-verdict sua sponte notice of an alleged defect, upon which plaintiff's new-trial motion came to be based, was too late. An exception to a blank verdict form may not be interposed for the first time in a motion for new trial. To preserve that error for review here, Capshaw must have excepted to the blank verdict form at the pre-submission stage of the case, i.e., simultaneously with exceptions to jury instructions.