Court Opinion

ID: 9714630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:41:48.873802+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:27.275982
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
I would affirm the trial judge's action in granting a mistrial in this case and would remand for a new trial. The addendum to the verdiet which eauses the problem in this case was delivered by and for the jury acting as a body, in open court, and with the formality normally attendant to the return of a verdict. It was not the product of interrogation by the trial judge or counsel for the parties. It was presented with court authorization which had preceded the bringing of the jury into open court to return its verdict. The court's authorization undoubtedly participated in and facilitated the jury in finally concluding its deliberations. The addendum was presented before the jury was discharged and thus while the jury was yet under oath and sworn to well and truly try the case between the parties The addendum was not, I think, much different from those words and statements which juries at times add to the printed verdict forms supplied for their convenience by the Court. Such words and statements form part of the verdict itself. I agree with the majority that juries should not be encouraged to make such statements, during or after trial, explanatory or otherwise. It is surely within the province of a jury in resolving issues of fact before them to go beyond simply "for the plaintiff," "for the defendant," "guilty," and "not guilty." When the court is faced with a jury verdict which reflects free-lancing as did the one in this case, it is up to the court to decide whether the verdict as a whole has a reasonable intendment and can be given a reasonable construction, or cannot be so considered and out of necessity must be avoided. Daniels v. McGinnis (1884), 97 Ind. 549. Under the unusual cireumstances presented in this case, the two parts of the verdict resolved material issues of fact in diametri*896cally opposed ways, and both parts were supported by the entire jury. This looks like necessity requiring avoidance. I find that it was within the discretion of the trial judge to declare a mistrial, rather than returning the jury to the jury room for further deliberations. Ind.Code Ann. § 34-1-21-9 (West 1983); see also Ind. Trial R. 50(C).