Court Opinion

ID: 9582610
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:29:28.913227+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:02.842536
License: Public Domain

*492Carlisle, Judge,
dissenting. I cannot 'agree with the ruling-made by the majority in the fourth division of the opinion and with the judgment of affirmance as to special ground 11 of the motion for a new trial. First of all, I wish to point out that the assignment of error in this ground is not simply that the court erred in permitting a particular question, or particular questions, to be propounded by counsel for the plaintiff. The assignment of error in this ground is on the, judgment of the trial court denying a motion for mistrial and the basis for the motion for mistrial was that the line of questioning by the plaintiff’s attorney of all the jurors, each in the presence of all the others, was of such character as to create an atmosphere inimical to a fair consideration of the case by the jury, that the statements by counsel for the plaintiff in the questions propounded to' the jurors and frequently repeated in the presence of the jurors were prejudicial and created an undue emphasis of the possibility or propriety of a large verdict, and, “that the questions presented were of such a character that, prior to the introduction of any evidence and the receipt of any instructions from the court, they had created an air of sympathy in the plaintiff’s favor, which was evidenced when the juror who> was the twenty-fourth juror to be questioned was forced to volunteer, referring to the plaintiff, T cam sympathize with him now’; that the questions propounded by plaintiff’s attorney were not .conducive to a proper and fair trial of the case.”
Of course, if the questions thus propounded by counsel for the plaintiff were within the range of “the broad sanction of Code § 59-705” as amended, the allowance by the court of reasonable repetition of these questions to- the jurors would not constitute error. Ground 11 of the motion for a new trial shows that the questioning- of the 24 prospective jurors in this vein continued for almost two days during the selection of the jury. During the questioning of the first juror, counsel for the plaintiff propounded a question to him which was held by the trial judge to be improper om objection of counsel for the defendant; nevertheless, this ground shows that counsel for the plaintiff repeatedly sought to propound to the same juror and to other jurors similar questions which were objected to and some of *493which were ruled out by the trial judge and others of which the trial judge found it necessary to rephrase in his own language.
As illustrative of this, this ground shows that after several of the jurors had been questioned and numerous rulings on the propriety of the questions sought to be propounded by counsel had been made by the trial court, one of the prospective jurors, Dewey N. Smith, was asked the following question in the presence of both panels: “The defendant claims damages for loss of capacity to labor, for loss of the right ‘to labor and work, for physical pain and suffering, for mental derangement and mental agony, for fear, for shock, and for visual hysteria, and for his health, somatic injuries, for the loss of his wages, for the money that he owes for doctors now and for money in the future. He says he is permanently injured. He lays his damages in the sum of $300,000, including money that he would have made if he, was not injured. The injury having damaged his brain and caused him to suffer aberrations, seeing things he didn’t see, delusions, loss of memory and hallucinations; and if it appears in the evidence in this case that he was examined by doctors and some found an injury to his right eye, one in particular who examined him before the suit was filed, and he communicated to his counsel that he was blind in his right eye, and thereafter-wards, a year later, the doctor examined him again and said that he was a malingerer and a balker and had misrepresented it to him and his belief was the result of his mental condition, this traumatic neurosis that you heard me refer to when I questioned Juror Heptinstall, and if he is damaged in this way, where he is incapacitated to work, and the evidence shows that he has not worked or had any regular earnings since the date, he was injured; if, after you hear the charge of the judge who will give you the law, which you will take from the court and which you swore you would take from the court, and you hear the evidence given to you on the witness stand and the documentary evidence as introduced in the case, and, if, from the evidence, and you take the law from the court, you believe he can recover for those items and they total $300,000, and you believe that that would be a fair judgment in the light of the charge and in the light of the evidence, would you write a verdict for $300,000?’ ”
*494This question was objected to by counsel for the defendants, and it was clearly objectionable as had been recognized by the court in one of its previous rulings, but instead of ruling the question out, the court undertook to rephrase the question by stating that he “understood the purport of the question was that if under the law and the evidence the juror was of the opinion that the plaintiff was entitled to recover $300,000, if he would so find,” and he, thereafter, ruled that this was a proper question and permitted counsel for the plaintiff to continue to question the juror repeatedly rephrasing counsel’s question.
It appears from this ground that all the jurors were repeatedly asked if they would have any hesitancy or feel any reticence in bringing in a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount of $300,000 if they believed that it was just and fair under the evidence, and the court on several occasions rephrased even the proper questions of counsel for the plaintiff by stating in language, for example, “the question is just whether or not if the juror thought the plaintiff was entitled to recover $300,000 under the law and the evidence he would hesitate to do what the juror thought he ought to do,” and other similar language.
As was said in 35 C. J. 389, Juries, § 437, “The extent to which parties should be allowed to go in examining jurors as to their qualifications cannot well be governed by any fixed rules. The examination is conducted under the supervision and direction of the trial court, and the nature and extent of the examination and what questions may or may not be answered must necessarily be left largely to the sound discretion of the court, the exercise of which will not be interfered with unless clearly abused.”
In support of this statement, the editors of Corpus Juris cite four Georgia cases, all of which were decided, of course, prior to the 1949 and 1951 amendments to¡ Code § 59-705, which as amended is quoted in the majority opinion. On pages 391 and 392 of 35 C. J., the editors citing numerous cases in support thereof from other jurisdictions state that: “While it has been held that hypothetical questions having correct reference to the law of the case, and which do' not call for a prejudgment of the case or of any supposed case on the facts, *495may, ini the sound and reasonable discretion of the trial court, be propounded, it is not proper to propound hypothetical questions purporting to embody testimony that is intended to be submitted, regardless of whether or not they correctly epitomize the testimony. Thus it is not competent to> examine jurors as to how they would act or decide, in certain contingencies, or in case the court should give certain instructions, or in case certain evidence or a certain state of evidence should be developed on the trial, or as to his attitude toward a particular witness who is expected to testify in the case.” No Georgia cases, however, directly bearing on the question have been found, and while there is perhaps some authority to the contrary, the rule as set forth in Corpus Juris and quoted above would seem to be the better and safer rule to follow. The fact that the prayer in the petition was for $300,000 damages and that the plaintiff contended that he had suffered certain particular injuries and that he was suffering a traumatic neurosis as a result of these injuries and that he also contended that he was permanently and totally disabled from performing gainful work and whether or not the plaintiff would prove these facts on the trial of the case, and whether the jurors would return a verdict in the amount sued for could not to my mind possibly illustrate any issue as to whether that particular juror had any interest in the cause or any opinion as to which party ought to prevail, nor could it illustrate 'any relationship or any acquaintance that the juror had with the party or their counsel, nor could it illustrate any fact or circumstance indicating any inclination or leaning or bias which the juror might have had respecting the subject matter of the suit or counsel or parties thereto, nor could it illustrate any religious or social or fraternal connection of the jurors. As broad as is the field of investigation in determining the individual juror’s qualifications allowed by Code (Ann.) § 59-705, I do not think it is broad enough to allow the questioning permitted by the trial judge in this case. Such line of questioning was undoubtedly calculated to prejudice the minds of the jurors in advance of the trial of the case and before the introduction of evidence in favor of the plaintiff’s contentions respecting the severity of his injuries and the ex*496tent of his damages, and this prejudicial and harmful effect was probably not removed even though the judge instructed the jury which was finally drawn and selected to try the case, “Now, Gentlemen of the Jury, thus far in the case there has been no evidence adduced before you, as you, of course, know. During the course of the selection of the jury counsel on both sides have propounded to the two panels and to' members of the two panels certain questions as permitted by law for the purpose of enabling counsel to be assisted in the selection of the jury, the law being that from the panel of twenty-four qualified jurors counsel selects twelve, each side striking six. The law permits certain questions to be asked to assist counsel. Certain questions have been asked of you and of others in your presence and hearing and certain statements have been made in your presence and hearing. Those statements, of course, as you know, are not evidence in the case and not to be considered by you as such. There has be,en no evidence in the case. You know nothing about the facts of the case. . . Nothing which has heretofore transpired can in any way influence your judgment about this case or influence your verdict. It cannot in any way have that effect, for the law is that it cannot and your oaths as jurors would forbid it to have such effect. You have sworn you shall well and truly try each case submitted to you during the ‘present time and a true verdict give according to the law as given you in charge and the opinion you entertain of the evidence, produced before you to' the best of your skill and knowledge, without favor or affection to either party, provided you are not discharged from the consideration of the case submitted, so help you God.’ ”
Accordingly, I think that the court’s action in permitting the repetitious reference to $300,000 and to the facts which plaintiff contended he would prove prior to the introduction of any evidence and prior to the opening statements of counsel probably had the effect claimed by the plaintiff in error and did in fact create an atmosphere which prevented a fair consideration of the case by the jury. My views in this regard are strengthened by the fact that counsel for the plaintiff, after securing a ruling from the court on the propriety of his line of *497questioning, continued to repeat questions which he knew the court had ruled, to be improper, and, as shown by this ground, the court repeatedly had to rule these questions out, but, in fact, permitted one of them to stand over objections of counsel for the defendants. I do not think that the court’s instruction could possibly have removed the harmful impression planted in the jurors’ minds by almost two days of questioning as to their views with respect to large verdicts. Neither do I think that the fact that the jury returned a verdict for a mere $40,000, where the amount sued for was $300,000, can be said to indicate that the conduct of counsel in this respect was harmless. The evidence in this case was in sharp conflict on almost every issue. I think it is obvious that the repeated contention by counsel for the plaintiff that his client had been damaged in the amount of $300,000 could have and very probably did have some effect on the size of the verdict rendered by the jury. For these reasons, I think the trial court erred in denying the motion for a mistrial and in thereafter overruling the 11th ground of the motion for a new trial.
I also dissent from the ruling of the majority in division 5 of the opinion and the judgment of affirmance with respect to ground 13. It is well settled in Georgia that, “Where counsel in the hearing of the jury make, statements of prejudicial matters which are not in evidence, it is the duty of the court to interpose and prevent the same; and, on objection made, he shall also rebuke the counsel, and by all needful and proper instructions to the jury endeavor to remove the improper impression from their minds; or, in his discretion, he may order a mistrial if the plaintiff’s attorney is the offender.” Code § 81-1009. While, under the foregoing Code section, it is within the court’s discretion whether he shall grant a mistrial in cases of this nature, his failure to rebuke counsel and by all needful and proper instructions to the jury endeavor to remove the improper impressions from their minds was error. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Coxwell, 93 Ga. App. 159, 168 (91 S. E. 2d 135). The conduct on the part of counsel for the plaintiff as outlined in this ground of the motion for new trial was highly improper and was subject to the objections raised by counsel for the defendant. It is *498certainly improper for one counsel to impugn the integrity and sincerity of opposing counsel in the presence of the jury, and this is especially so where, as in this case, the offending counsel is a prominent and successful member of the Bar and widely known by the general public. Furthermore, the probability of harm to the defendant is great where, as in this case, the evidence made close and doubtful issues as to the liability of the defendant and the extent and the severity of the plaintiff’s injuries. While the court in this case did undertake to instruct the jury to disregard the improper statements of counsel for the plaintiff, I do not think that the instruction of the court to the jury nor the mere statement by the court to the offending counsel that his conduct was improper constituted a sufficient rebuke of counsel as is required under the foregoing rules of law. For these reasons, I think the trial- court should have granted a mistrial on account of the conduct as complained of in special ground 13, and that the court erred in overruling that ground of the motion! for a new trial. Otherwise, I concur in the opinion of the majority.