Court Opinion

ID: 9716000
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:23:08.906284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:40.716320
License: Public Domain

*32Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Musmanno :
No matter from what angle one considers it, a court trial is an arduous experience to the party litigants. From the time the court proceedings begin, the litigants are bound to wear a garment of anxiety lined with troublesome doubts and apprehensions as to the results of the legal battle. With the trial terminated, the parties should not be required to undergo the same ordeal with its oscillating hopes and fears unless the cause of justice imperatively calls out for it. I do not hear such a clarion cry in this case.
On the contrary, I would say that the record assures us in a manner not always given to us to be assured, that the jury at the end fully understood the issues, and properly decided them. The record allows us the rare opportunity to look into the laboratory of the jury’s deliberations and appraise the fairness and reliability with which they applied the processes of reasoning to the testimony presented.
The majority opinion complains of the colloquy between the judge and jury, a colloquy which covers eight pages. While, of course, any expression of a trial judge which might have a tendency, intentionally or unintentionally, to persuade a jury into a partisan verdict on any item, is to be, and will be condemned, I do not see the remotest suggestion of such a persuasion here. The record shows the Trial Judge to be one of competence and long experience and one not only endowed with splendid judicial equipment but obviously motivated by a great will to achieve an impartial and just result in the controversy before him.
Ordinarily when a jury renders a verdict, the book of their calculations is sealed shut and all doubts as to whether they gave consideration to any particular item must remain an; unsolved mystery. But in the case at bar we have had an opportunity, as .stated *33above, to open the book to study the pages of the jury’s actions. We have thus seen how a potential error which might have authored a great injustice was avoided, and how the train of deliberation, momentarily derailed, was placed again on the track of full consideration of a very vital feature in the case.
The majority opinion impliedly criticizes the trial judge’s seven-times reference to the phrase “pain and suffering,” but pain and suffering is a legitimate factor in the calculation of damages, and the judge did not utter the item as an argument in behalf of the plaintiff but as something the jury should not overlook. It is obvious from the wording of the original verdict, added to what several jurors said in open court, that possibly the jury had missed the item of pain and suffering. In order to determine whether this possibility was reality, the judge questioned the jury as follows: “THE COURT: Mr. Foreman, in order that there may be no doubt, when you reported to the court a few minutes ago that $5,000 was to be awarded to Bruce VanBuren, the minor, what ivas it yon said? JUROR NO. 3: For future loss of earnings was on it, sir. JUROR NO. 6: To supplement future loss of earnings. THE COURT: What does that mean? Did you consider pain and suffering and distress as included in that $5,000? Or was that $5,000 merely to supplement the probable future loss of earnings? JUROR NO. 6: That is right, Your Honor. THE COURT: The latter? JUROR NO. 6: In the event this should incapacitate him so that he couldn’t earn a fair income this would supplement the $5,000. THE COURT: That is what I thought you said. Did you include in that $5,000 compensation for pain and suffering? JUROR No. 6: No, sir. THE COURT: Past or future? JUROR No. 6: No, sir. THE COURT: Is there any doubt about that in the minds of any of the jurors? *34You all agree that you did not include that? JUROR No. 11: No. THE COURT: You may retire.”
It will be noted that all the jurors agreed that they had neglected to consider a very serious phase of the litigation. The trial judge’s intervention not only prevented an injustice but, from his point of view in which I would agree, he avoided the possibility of the necessity of a new trial. Had the judge not queried the jury in the manner indicated, it would be quite apparent from the first part of the jury-judge colloquy that the jury, in their solicitude to protect the minor’s future loss of earnings, had not considered pain and suffering.
It is regrettable that the judge’s action, intended to prevent the necessity of a new trial, should be interpreted by the majority of this Court as the very thing which makes a new trial necessary. I am of the opinion that the record shows a trial well conducted, ably argued, thoroughly considered, and productive of a fair and just verdict. It should not be disturbed.
Order Per Curiam, April 5, 1954:
And now, to wit, this 5th day of April, 1954, upon reconsideration, the order theretofore entered on January 12, 1954, is amended to read as follows: “The judgments in favor of the appellees are reversed and a new trial granted, limited, however, to the determination of the amount of damages to which the parent and minor plaintiff are respectively entitled.”
Mr. Justice Bell dissents.