Court Opinion

ID: 9772864
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:31:48.405829+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:48.947168
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, concurring. I concur. As pointed out in the majority opinion, amendment 16 to article 2, § 7 of the Arkansas Constitution provides that in civil cases a verdict may be returned where as many as nine jurors agree. However, amendment 16 continues as follows: [Pjrovided, however, that where a verdict is returned by less than twelve jurors all the jurors consenting to such verdict shall sign the same. (Emphasis added.) The dissenters rely on Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-119 (1987) [formerly Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 27-1737 — 1738 (Repl. 1979)] which was enacted prior to amendment 16 and was operative when all twelve jurors were required to agree when returning a verdict; even if one juror, when polled, disagreed with the verdict, § 16-64-119 required the jury to be sent out again. It is fundamental law that an existing statute is superseded by a subsequent constitutional amendment only when there is an irreconcilable conflict or the statute is necessarily repugnant to the new constitutional provision. See, e.g., McKenzie v. Burris, 255 Ark. 330, 500 S.W.2d 357 (1973). Obviously, the statutory provisions of § 16-64-119 are necessarily repugnant to the provisions of amendment 16, since the amendment allows nine, rather than all twelve jurors, to return a final verdict. The narrowed question then becomes whether the remains of § 16-64-119 (i.e., the parts not in direct conflict with amendment 16) are sufficient to support the dissenters’ reliance on the statute and the case they cite in construing it. While there may be some merit to the argument that a party should raise his or her objection to the verdict at the time it is rendered, the threshold issue is: whose burden is it to question the verdict? If a verdict fails to reflect at least nine signatures, a mistrial results. In my view, unless a party, before the jury is discharged, can establish that the verdict was actually properly returned with sufficient signatures so as to support a judgment, that party waives any right to raise the issue later. Amendment 16 requires this conclusion by mandating that, when a verdict is less than unanimous, all jurors consenting to the verdict shall sign it. Thus, without nine-juror signatures, the verdict fails to support a final judgment. In fact, this court has stated that a verdict signed by only eight jurors would render the verdict and consequent judgment of no effect. See Cartwright v. Barnett, 192 Ark. 206, 90 S.W.2d 485 (1936) (wherein this court found that the lower court’s verdict was valid because it reflected nine, not eight, jurors signed). No ambiguity exists in the use of the constitutional terms found in amendment 16, and their clear meaning should be followed. I agree with the majority that a trial court may not conduct a later hearing — as was done here — to correct a verdict that fails to meet the dictates of amendment 16. Jury deliberations should remain secret, unless it becomes clear that the jury’s verdict was tainted by a showing of extraneous prejudicial information or some improper outside influence. Watkins v. Taylor Seed Farms, Inc., 295 Ark. 291, 748 S.W.2d 143 (1988); see also, A.R.E. Rule 606(b). The present case did not pose a situation that justified the calling of a juror to testify about the jury’s verdict or to relate his best recollections of how the jury reached its vote. If the jurors were to be polled regarding their votes, it should have been done at trial before the jury was discharged. Because the jury’s verdict at trial reflected a mistrial, I believe the burden was the appellee’s to raise the issue since he was, and is now, the one who claims the verdict and judgment were properly rendered. For the foregoing reasons, I concur.