Court Opinion

ID: 9583922
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:43:07.396081+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:05:50.774225
License: Public Domain

*809Judge Harold R. Banke,
dissenting.
The majority goes to unnecessary and extraordinary lengths to deny the obvious: the trial court erred in its instruction to the jury and this error was presumptively harmful. See Clements v. Clements, 247 Ga. 787, 789 (2) (279 SE2d 698) (1981). The proper approach is to acknowledge the error, admit that it was presumptively harmful, then decide whether in light of the entire record, the error was rendered harmless. Foskey v. Foskey, 257 Ga. 736, 737 (2) (363 SE2d 547) (1988); Jones v. Davis, 183 Ga. App. 401, 402 (1) (359 SE2d 187) (1987).
Here, the Dents alleged acts of professional negligence (e.g., failure to administer to Mark’s needs such as charting his condition at appropriate intervals) as well as acts of ordinary negligence (e.g., the failure to operate the monitor properly). The Dents offered some evidence in support of both types of negligence.
During the charge conference, the trial court agreed that the charge at issue failed to allow for the Dents’ recovery for ordinary negligence. Despite the fact that the trial court agreed not to give the disputed charge, which the Hospital had withdrawn, it gave the charge anyway. The jury was instructed: “I charge you that if you find from the evidence in this case that the defendants did not commit any acts of professional negligence or malpractice, a verdict in plaintiffs’ favor would be unlawful, even if the defendants have not accounted for the injury in question. In other words, the law does not require the defendants to prove to you what may have caused the injury in question.” The Dents objected to the charge as being erroneous. Although in another charge the jury was advised that a verdict could be based on negligence, the charge at issue instructed the jury that it would be unlawful to find for the Dents unless it found professional negligence. After noting the Dents’ objection, the trial court concluded, “I think they [the jurors] can take the whole charge as it is and figure it out.”
Courts should not give conflicting rules of law and leave the jury to choose between them. Johnson v. State, 148 Ga. App. 702, 704 (2) (252 SE2d 205) (1979). “ ‘ “[W]here an erroneous statement is made it is not cured by a correct statement in another portion of the charge unless the jury’s attention is called to the correction by A retraction of the erroneous statement or in some other manner.” ’ ” Id. In this case, the charge contained two distinct and conflicting propositions as to whether the jury could render a verdict based on ordinary negligence absent a finding of professional malpractice. See Clements, 247 Ga. at 789 (2). This was plainly error. Nowhere in the court’s instruction was the jury expressly advised that it could find liability based on either the theory of ordinary negligence or professional negligence.
“ ‘A charge containing two distinct propositions conflicting the *810one with the other is calculated to leave the jury in such a confused condition of mind that they cannot render an intelligible verdict, and requires the grant of a new trial.’ [Cits.]” Clements, 247 Ga. at 789. In view of the evidence showing that the Hospital was responsible for acts of ordinary negligence, a charge which barred recovery except for professional negligence was prejudicial, fundamentally unfair, and not adjusted to the evidence. Hollywood Baptist Church v. State Hwy. Dept., 114 Ga. App. 98, 100 (3) (150 SE2d 271) (1966). See Lehman v. Zucherman, 198 Ga. App. 202, 206 (7) (400 SE2d 704) (1990) (reversible error committed where inapplicable instruction could have misled jury). Notwithstanding the majority’s contention to the contrary, inasmuch as the jury found for the Hospital, it cannot be said that the error was rendered harmless by the jury’s verdict. Foskey, 257 Ga. at 737 (2). See Hopkins v. First Union Bank of Savannah, 193 Ga. App. 109, 112 (2) (387 SE2d 144) (1989).
In its strained attempt to find harmless error, the majority purportedly relies on the charge as a whole, the complaint, the pre-trial order, closing arguments of counsel, and the history of jury deliberations. Yet the trial consumed about a week, more than 30 witnesses testified, and the transcript and record exceed 1,800 pages. My review of the record directs me to the inescapable conclusion that the Dents were deprived of a fair trial.
In light of the confusing charge, I cannot agree that the instruction as a whole eliminated the possibility of confusing and misleading a jury of ordinary capacity and understanding. McDevitt & Street Co. v. K-C Air Conditioning Svc., 203 Ga. App. 640, 647 (10) (418 SE2d 87) (1992). As noted above, the jury could have dutifully believed that it could not lawfully find for the Dents unless it found the Hospital committed both ordinary negligence and also professional negligence. See Lehman v. Zucherman, 198 Ga. App. at 206 (7); compare Macon-Bibb County Hosp. Auth. v. Whipple, 182 Ga. App. 195, 196 (2) (355 SE2d 83) (1987) (applicable law must be stated accurately and fairly so as to work no prejudice).
Moreover, the court’s instruction as a whole was disjointed and lengthy, containing more than 37 separate charges with the erroneous instruction buried in the midst. Even assuming arguendo that the jury had copies of the complaint and pre-trial order, I do not see how they eliminated the harm, particularly because only the trial court’s instruction supplied the applicable law. Neither the complaint nor the pre-trial order instructs the jury that the Dents could recover on either theory of negligence and need not prove both theories in the conjunctive.
Nor did I find closing arguments particularly enlightening. The majority offered a truncated version of part of one closing, supposedly to illustrate how the argument clarified the two theories for the *811jury. Notwithstanding the majority’s edited rendition, what counsel actually argued was: “If you find that the hospital is liable you are required, there’s no choice, if you find that they are liable, you are required and you find — and by liability now, I mean that they committed an act of negligence, professional negligence and that that negligence, professional negligence proximately caused the death.” Where two commas appear in the transcript between negligence and professional negligence, indicating the conjunctive, the majority, without any authorization, rewrites the statement in the disjunctive, supplying two “[or]’s” where none appears. The majority’s gratuitous insertion of the two “or’s” into counsel’s remarks illustrates the inherent lack of clarity. This need to edit attests to the indispensable obligation of the trial court to provide proper clear instruction, which the trial court failed to fulfill.
Decided July 16, 1997
Reconsideration denied July 31, 1997
Gray & Hedrick, William E. Gray II, Law Office of David W. M. Boone, Robert G. Ballard, for appellants.
Sullivan, Hall, Booth & Smith, John E. Hall, Jr., Thomas A. Graham, for appellee.
Nor does the history of jury deliberations demonstrate that the jury understood the instructions as a whole. On the first day of deliberation, the foreperson informed the court that the jury wanted to be permitted to “go home and think about it and pray about it” overnight. After the jury had deliberated for a while, the foreperson advised the court that “[w]e are at a deadlock . . . and I don’t see any way this is going to be broken.” In response, the trial court felt compelled to employ an Allen charge to avert a deadlock. The need for an Allen charge arguably shows the jury was experiencing difficulty and may well have been confused.
When the Dents pointed out the conflicting charge, it was incumbent upon the trial court to clarify the instruction. By leaving it to the jury to “figure it out,” the court abrogated its role of providing proper legal instruction. See Johnson, 148 Ga. App. at 704 (2). The charge was plainly error and my review of the record persuades me that the error requires the grant of a new trial. Foskey, 257 Ga. at 737 (2). For these reasons, I must respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray joins in this dissent.