Court Opinion

ID: 9687730
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:44:01.501145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.593022
License: Public Domain

JONES, Justice
(concurring specially).
The issue presented in this case is an extremely close one. I feel somewhat like the baseball umpire who, after the catcher held the pitch for a prolonged interval, shouted, “Chunk another one, that one’s too close to call.”
Unquestionably, the initial oral charge, when taken as a whole, was at best confusing and at worst erroneous. If the charge were confusing merely, the written requested charge should have been given. If it were erroneous, serious doubt is raised as to whether the explanatory charge was sufficient to correct the error. With some reluctance I have agreed with the opinion principally because the explanatory charge, which was a correct statement of the law, came while the jury was still deliberating and before they had reached a verdict.
I am writing these specially concurring comments to emphasize the point made in the opinion of the Court encouraging the trial Court? to make greater use of the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions. Under APJI 30.02 appears a suggested charge on the effect of contributory negligence to a simple negligence count. Immediately following this charge under “Notes on Use” appears a suggested charge on the effect of contributory negligence to a wanton count. Standing in complete contrast to the court’s oral charge in the instant case, which was heavily weighted on behalf of the defendant, are the suggested charges in APJI. These suggested charges are not weighted for either party and contain a simple, direct and impartial statement of the law.1
The oral instructions to the jury in the instant case make reference to “slightest” degree of contributory negligence as a defense to the simple negligence count. Why the trial judges persist in the use of the term “slightest”, when giving the effect of contributory negligence charge, I do not understand. In order to be entirely fair, when the word “slightest” is used as to a simple negligence count, then as to a wanton count, the court should charge that no matter how “great” the degree of contributory negligence, this is not a defense to wantonness. But this entire problem can be avoided by eliminating the use of either term in accordance with the suggested charges from APJI.
While the law does not prescribe that the trial court in instructing the jury is obligated to give equal time to each of the parties in litigation, well-balanced and impartial instructions to the jury are essential to the ends of justice; and while no one would contend that APJI is a panacea, it has as its goal this overall purpose.

. In fairness to the trial Court, it should be noted that this case was tried in May, 1973, and the APJI was not published until 1974.