Court Opinion

ID: 9538933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:44:07.797696+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:17.089322
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
FOSTER, Justice.
Objection was made on this application that we failed to give consideration to an affidavit which was introduced on motion for a new trial to sustain the verdict of the jury. The affidavit was that of Ed. D. Robinson, Jr., who was a member of the jury, and the particular portions of his affidavit, emphasized in brief, are as follows : “I remember that Cole was one of the men who was willing to give a verdict for the plaintiff in an amount substantially above that figure to which I and another man that was holding out finally agreed to. It is my best recollection that there were several men who wanted to give a verdict for the plaintiff who named a figure below that which Cole was willing to give the plaintiff. * * * At no time during the jury’s discussion of this case did I get the impression that Cole was prejudiced in favor of the electric company; but, on the other hand, he took the position with a number of other jurors, that a verdict should be returned in favor of the plaintiff for an amount much larger than the amount of the verdict in this case.” It is therefore argued on behalf of appellant that the evidence shows there was no prejudice to the plaintiff on account of the service rendered by Cole on the jury.
We did not give consideration to that affidavit because it was not legal evidence on the question involved. With respect to the admissibility of affidavits of jurors on a motion for a new trial, the rule sustained by the courts is in the following aspects. Generally speaking, a juror to sustain a verdict may give evidence of facts which occurred or did not occur in the jury room. Mobile & Ohio R. R. Co. v. Watson, 221 Ala. 585, 130 So. 199; City of Dothan v. Hardy, 237 Ala. 603, 188 So. *678264, 122 A.L.R. 637; Fortson v. Hester, 252 Ala. 143, 39 So.2d 649. Such evidence is not admissible for the purpose of impeaching a verdict. Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Moore, 148 Ala. 115 (20), 42 So. 1024; Finney v. Newson, 203 Ala. 191(8), 82 So. 441; George’s Restaurant v. Dukes, 216 Ala. 239(6), 113 So. 53; City of Dothan v. Hardy, supra.
But in order to sustain a verdict of the jury, for tlie affidavits of the jurors to be admissible they must be with respect to facts and occurrences open to the observation of other jurors so that they may be subject to contradiction, for the rule does not permit evidence by the jurors “of their own mental operations by disclosing the grounds of, or the reasons for, their verdict, the discussions which took place in the jury. room, or the motives or influences which affected their deliberations and decision, by denying that they were affected by matters which might, if their effect was prejudicial to the moving party, furnish grounds for a new trial, or by asserting that they disregarded improper instructions by the court or incompetent material evidence which was before them and was not seasonably withdrawn or excluded.” 66 Corpus Juris Secundum, New Trial, § 169, page 426; City of Dothan v. Hardy, supra; Glaspell v. Northern Pacific R. R. Co., C.C., 43 F. 900, reversed on other grounds, 144 U.S. 211, 12 S.Ct. 593, 36 L.Ed. 409.
The testimony contained in the affidavit of Robinson, which we have quoted above, comes within the rule of exclusion, sustained by the authorities, and which is last above quoted. We cannot therefore give it consideration for the purpose of determining that the motion for a new trial was improperly granted.
Our opinion may not have been accurate in saying there was no other evidence offered on the motion for a new trial, whereas it should have said there was no other legal evidence offered on such motion.
It follows the application for rehearing is overruled.