Court Opinion

ID: 9611531
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:57:35.343653+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:28.978707
License: Public Domain

HAROLD L. LOWENSTEIN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent and would reverse and remand the case for a new trial. Ordering a new trial because of an intentional nondisclosure of a venireperson is indeed a drastic remedy. But, during jury selection where there has been a nondisclosure, that is deemed intentional, bias and prejudice are normally presumed to have influenced the verdict. Nadolski v. Ahmed, 142 S.W.3d 755, 764 (Mo.App.2004). I believe *51such a result is warranted here because of the failure of the eventual foreperson of the jury to disclose that he had been sued by three creditors, and personally served as a named defendant, all for unpaid debts of his and his parents’ business.
A “nondisclosure” occurs when a clear question unequivocally triggers the veni-reperson’s response (would a lay person reasonably conclude the undisclosed information) that had been solicited by the question. Keltner v. K-Mart, 42 S.W.3d 716, 723 (Mo.App.2001). That issue is reviewed de novo.
If it is determined by the court there was a nondisclosure, the party seeking a new trial must show this failure to answer the clear question was “intentional,” that the venireperson has no reasonable inability to understand the question and either remembers the experience, or the significance of purported forgetfulness is unreasonable. Redfield v. Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services, Inc., 42 S.W.3d 703, 708 (Mo.App.2001). This question is reviewed for an abuse of discretion, but here, that standard is inapplicable since the trial court denied the motion for a new trial, finding that the first prong, nondisclosure, had not been met.
It is my belief that no matter how this question, “Anyone else ever had — been a defendant in a claim or a lawsuit or members of your immediate family, other than what we’ve just talked about?” was clogged between other questions related to personal injury suits — to this specific question, its answer could not be avoided because of context. The fact that no other member of the venire answered this particular question does not bolster the conclusion that no one understood this question. It is just as logical to assume no other venireperson, or a member of his or her family, had been sued. (Apparently, a check of the plaintiff-defendant records netted no other juror names.) The scenario here is akin to a recent decision of this court in which a new trial was ordered where counsel, after inquiring about lawsuits filed by venirepersons then asked, “Have any of you ever been sued by anyone?” Massey v. Carter, 238 S.W.3d 198, 202 (Mo.App.2007). No doubt, the question in the case at bar could have been better posed, and contained in a context isolated from other questions, but the question here was clearly asked and not masked by context.
If the question here was clear, the next prong to be addressed is whether the nondisclosure was intentional. As this court said in Hatfield v. Griffin, 147 S.W.3d 115, 119 (Mo.App.2004), it was unreasonable that the venireperson could have forgotten or that it “did not enter her mind” that she had been sued where he was made a defendant and served in a suit for unpaid medical bills. The Supreme Court in Brines v. Cibis, 882 S.W.2d 138, 140 (Mo. banc 1994) has said, “questions and answers pertaining to a prospective juror’s prior litigation experience are material.” The transcript of the new trial motion discloses the venireperson had no trouble remembering the lawsuits, so the failure to disclose was unreasonable and, therefore, intentional. Williams, supra 736 S.W.2d at 38.
It is counsel’s duty in jury selection to make clear, concise questions. In order for there to be a fair and impartial jury to decide factual issues, the venirepersons must also be encouraged to disclose matters that would impair or cloud their ability to decide fairly.
I would reverse the denial of the new trial motion and would remand for a new trial.