Court Opinion

ID: 9456915
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:05:54.397724+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:08.519331
License: Public Domain

LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I concur in the result and in parts I, II and III of the majority opinion.
As to part IV, the matter arose at trial with appellant's general objection to the “statement concerning criminal prosecution under the statute.” It is my view that anti-fraud criminal statutes do have a place in a civil action seeking to establish fraudulent conduct. Criminal statutes imposing a standard of care have an evidentiary bearing on the issue of negligence (or gross negligence) in a civil suit. Similarly the fact that the legislature considers certain misrepresentations to be of sufficient moment to justify criminal sanctions is, I think, the kind of information which can properly be placed before the jury, on an eviden-tiary and not conclusive basis, to guide them in assessing the materiality of a particular misrepresentation in a civil suit.
I concur in the result reached by the majority in part IV because I do not think the evidence presented by the defendant laid an adequate basis to enable the jury to be fairly informed whether appellant’s was the kind of conduct contemplated by the criminal statute as administered by responsible authorities.
Dandrige testified that he had long experience in the insurance business and that it was his belief that it was the practice not to report policies on which no premiums had been paid in the annual statement, and that had he thought such disclosure required, he would certainly have made it. Although the Deputy Superintendent of Insurance was called by appellee as a witness, he gave no testimony as to whether those charged with the administration of D.C.Code § 35-1312 considered the failure to disclose policies of this type to be a violation.1
In Lucy Webb Hayes National Training School v. Perotti, 136 U.S.App.D.C. 122, 419 F.2d 704 (1969) we noted that regulations and statutes which have a possible bearing on the issue of negligence “are often enacted with the reasonable expectation that the * * * authorities) will exercise some judgment in appying the general rule to the specific case.” (419 F.2d at 712). And we also made clear there that the trial judge, after hearing the testimony of the appropriate public official, “must determine whether the regulation is applicable to the case at hand before admitting it into evidence.” (419 F.2d at 713). I believe the same predicate is requisite before the jury can be advised of an anti-fraud statute which is subject to the discretion of the Superintendent of Insurance in its application. Because this predicate was not laid, I concur in reversal.
If we proceed to an alternative ground of decision, and assume that some reference to the criminal statute, § 35-1312, was permissible but the particular reference was improper, I do not see either that the objection was preserved or that the plain error rule is applicable. The general objection against any reference whatever to the criminal statute did not alert the judge to the alternative objection that the particular instruction was defective. The District Court set forth the “knowingly” requirement in its basic reference to the statute. This word was not repeated in the next sentence when it advised the jury that conduct in violation of the statute would be fraudulent and dishonest within the terms of the bond only if it was the cause of loss to the appellee. In view of the District Court’s repeated emphasis throughout its instructions on the requirement that fraudulent or dishonest conduct must be knowing, willful and *1205intentional, I think counsel was under a duty to object at trial on the ground that the word “knowingly” had not been reiterated in the particular sentence. Had an objection been made, the District Court undoubtedly would have taken corrective measures.
Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge, and LEV-ENTHAL, Circuit Judge, in Chambers.
ORDER
PER CURIAM.
On consideration of appellees’ petition for rehearing, it is ordered by the Court that appellees’ aforesaid petition for rehearing is hereby denied.
PER CURIAM:
In denying the petition for rehearing we emphasize that our decision for reversal does not rest upon what our dissenting colleague refers to as a slip of the tongue of the trial judge. Part IV of our opinion, which explains the prejudicial error we find in the trial, is solidly based on the trial judge’s reference in his instructions to the possibility of criminal prosecution of appellees’ general manager. As the opinion points out this reference was prejudicial error because it erroneously tended to lead the jury to consider in a more serious light than otherwise it might do the general manager’s signing of the statement required by Section 35-103 of our Code. We also pointed out the prejudice in the requirement that in this civil action appellant defend as it were against the possibly criminal conduct of the general manager. Having for these reasons found prejudicial error we added that the error was emphasized by several factors then mentioned, one of which was the omission in the instruction to advise the jury that the statement filed under Section 35-103, in order to violate the Section must have been “knowingly” false. This factor, however, was not essential to the decision already reached.
Our dissenting colleague thus misconceives the basis for our reversal. Moreover, turning now to the omission itself, inadvertent failure to advise the jury the statement must have been “knowingly” false would not cure the error; for the effect on the jury must be judged by what the judge actually said to the jury rather than by what he intended to say. The jury was not present during the discussions between court and counsel as to the proper wording of the instruction.
We accordingly are unable to accept as justified the statement of our colleague to the effect that our decision causes a waste of the valuable resources of trial judges and juries; for these strictures are due to a portion of our opinion which is not essential to the decision reached, and which referred rather to matters which added support to the decision.
Circuit Judge LEVENTHAL dissents from the foregoing order and opinion.

. I do not think it conclusive in favor of appellant that in fact no criminal charges were referred. The individual responsible was no longer employed by the Company. The Superintendent may have considered that prosecutorial discretion was best exercised by not pressing charges although there had been a violation.