Court Opinion

ID: 9709747
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:53:52.830107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:51.204555
License: Public Domain

ROLAND B. DAY, C.J.
(concurring). I join the mandate of the majority opinion, and agree with its conclusion that a court in a jury trial "should apprise the jurors of filenames of all the parties to the lawsuit." Majority op. at 523-24. I further agree that any prejudice which may result from the announcement of an insurer's name is easily rectified through a curative jury instruction. I write separately because I disagree with the majority's conclusion that this court has not previously recognized a right to name all joined parties. As the majority observes, this court stated in Vuchetich v. General Casualty Co., 270 Wis. 552, 555, 72 N.W.2d 389 (1955):
The proposition that, while one may have his action against a designated defendant, he may not refer to that defendant or divulge its name during the litigation presents a paradox so startling that only the most direct and positive authority will convince us of its truth.
The majority distinguishes Vuchetich on the grounds that the order at issue in the case was erroneous solely *528because of the limits it placed on investigating possible bias among jurors through voir dire questioning. However, the order at issue in Vuchetich was not limited to voir dire, but prohibited mention of the defendant insurance company's name during the entire trial. See id. at 553. The Vuchetich court referred to limitations on voir dire questioning as but one example arising from previous case law of this court allowing the mention of an insurance company's name in a good-faith inquiry to determine possible interest on the part of a juror; the court also noted cases allowing comments of counsel on insurance as a second example. See id. at 555 (citing cases). The Vuchetich court's conclusion, that the order prohibiting mention of the insurance compariy throughout the trial was erroneous, is clearly based on several sources: "We are unable to read anything out of [the predecessor statute to Wis. Stat. § 803.04(2)] which authorizes a court to prohibit such good-faith inquiry or comment." Because Vuchetich was not merely concerned with voir dire, the majority errs in its decision that the case is not controlling here. See majority op. at 522. Vuchetich provides such a clear statement of the law that no one other than the parties in the present matter has raised the issue in the forty years since the case was decided!
Thus, although I concur in the result of the majority opinion, I would conclude that this court had previously recognized a right to name all parties in Vuchetich.
I am authorized to state that Justice WILLIAM A. BABLITCH and Justice JON P. WILCOX join this concurring opinion.