Andrews v. Mosley Well Service

507 So. 2d 236, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7789
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 8, 1986
DocketNo. 85-1029
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 507 So. 2d 236 (Andrews v. Mosley Well Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrews v. Mosley Well Service, 507 So. 2d 236, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7789 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

KNOLL, Judge.

Mosley Well Services, Inc., its employee, Virgil T. Holloway, and their insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, appeal a jury award of damages in favor of James Andrews for a back injury he suffered as the result of a vehicular accident. At the close of defendants’ case, the trial court granted Andrews’ motion for directed verdict. Without request from any of the attorneys representing the parties litigant, the trial court bifurcated the issues of liability and quantum. The trial court ruled on the issue of liability and found defendants liable; the jury returned a $671,000 damage award. Defendants’ assignments of error allege that the trial court erred in: (1) granting on the morning of trial Andrews’ motion to strike defendants’ assertion that comparative fault was applicable, and not allowing defendants to introduce evidence of Andrews’ comparative negligence; (2) failing to preside over the entirety of the jury trial; (3) granting Andrews’ motion for directed verdict on the issues of negligence and causation, particularly since the trial judge did not hear all the testimony; (4) granting Andrews’ motion for directed verdict on only the issues of negligence and causation, and not on the issue of damages; (5) allowing Andrews to introduce defendants’ insurance policy, and permitting him to disclose to the jury the coverage limits and the premiums charged; (6) including “loss of enjoyment of life” as a separate category of damages; (7) allowing the verdict form to contain language which implied to the jury that the trial court determined that Andrews was disabled, and that a damage award was owed; (8) excusing a juror for cause; (9) refusing to give defendants’ jury charges and in giving incorrect or misleading jury instruc[237]*237tions; (10) allowing Andrews counsel to make prejudicial remarks in the presence of the jury; (11) restricting defendants’ cross-examination of Andrews, and disallowing defendants’ cross-examination of Andrews’ expert economist regarding the effect of income taxation on Andrews’ future lost earnings; and that the jury erred in: (12) finding Andrews totally and permanently disabled; and (13) awarding Andrews an excessive damage award. We reverse and remand this case to the district court for a new trial, finding that it was patently erroneous for two trial judges to separately preside over the trial on the merits while evidence was adduced. Since we find reversible error in defendants’ third assignment of error, we pretermit discussion of defendants’ remaining assignments.

MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT RECORD

At oral argument it was brought out that the record was void of a Supreme Court order assigning a substitute judge to assist the Eleventh Judicial District, which is a necessary prerequisite for a substitute judge. LSA-La. Const. Art. V, Section 5(A). After oral argument Andrews filed a motion to supplement the record, attached a certified copy of the Supreme Court order, and filed a supplemental brief. Defendants filed an opposition to the supplementation of the record and a brief in support of their position.

After the record has been transmitted to' the appellate court, the general rule is that it can be supplemented by stipulation of the parties, by the trial court, or by order of the appellate court, only if the evidence was actually introduced at trial. Bullock v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 397 So.2d 13 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1981). Irrespective of the foregoing rule, we have remanded cases to the district court to allow the introduction of additional evidence to prevent a miscarriage of justice even when such evidence had not been introduced at trial. See Jones v. LeDay, 373 So.2d 787 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1979). There is nothing in the present record to establish that the Supreme Court order appointing the substitute judge was filed as part of these proceedings or that such order was noted in the court’s minutes.

In the interest of judicial economy, we grant Andrews’ motion to supplement the record to include a certified copy of the order of May 8, 1985, from the Supreme Court assigning Judge Marvin Gahagan to sit as a judge pro tempore of the Eleventh Judicial District Court for the Parish of Sabine on May 15, 1985, and we further grant Andrews’ motion to file a supplemental brief addressing questions raised during oral argument.

TRIAL BY TWO JUDGES

Defendants contend that the trial court erred in failing to declare a mistrial because two trial judges presided over different portions of this jury trial while evidence was adduced.

Although the Code of Civil Procedure does not provide for mistrials, this procedural device has been recognized jur-isprudentially in those instances when no other remedy would afford relief. LSA-C.C. Art. 21; LSA-C.C.P. Art. 191; Spencer v. Children’s Hosp., 432 So.2d 823 (La. 1983) and cases cited therein. As noted in Spencer, “[M]istrial is available when, pri- or to the completion of the trial and rendition of a judgment, the court determines that there is some error or irregularity in the case which prevents reaching a proper judgment.” The result of a ruling by the trial court that a mistrial has occured is that the jury is discharged and a new trial is had before a newly impaneled jury. Spencer, supra.

We found only four Louisiana cases where more than one judge acted at the trial level in the case. In Moreau v. Tonry, 339 So.2d 317 (La.1976), the trial judge was recused in the middle of an election contest, and another judge heard the remainder of the evidence. The substitute judge was not present during the taking of evidence prior to his appointment. In State v. Henderson, 243 La. 233, 142 So.2d 407 (1962), the trial judge died between the time of defendant’s conviction and the adju[238]*238dication of defendant’s motions in arrest of judgment and for a new trial. A successor judge decided the post-conviction motions. In State v. McClain, 194 La. 605, 194 So. 563 (1940), a substitute judge presided over jury selection, and the regular district judge completed the case. In State v. Barret, 151 La. 52, 91 So. 543 (1922), defendant was sentenced by the successor of the judge who presided over the trial.

In State v. McClain, supra, it was recognized that

“[IJt is reversible error to substitute a judge to preside over the remainder of a trial after evidence has been adduced before the original judge. The basis for this holding is that the second or substituted judge, not being familiar with the prior testimony or evidence, is not in a position to give the accused a fair and impartial trial as is contemplated by law....”

With the exception of Moreau v. Tonry, supra, none of the cases found error with the fact that a substitute judge sat. However, in Moreau the Supreme Court was presented for the first time with a case where evidence was adduced before two judges. Significantly, in Moreau the Supreme Court found reversible error, apd in the interest of justice ordered the election contest tried de novo before a new judge.

Judge Claude R. Sledge presided over the empaneling of the jury and the first two days of trial. At the end of the second day of this jury trial, Judge Sledge announced that he was subpoenaed to testify as a witness at a trial in a neighboring parish, and that Judge Marvin Gahagan would preside over the trial as a substitute judge during the morning of the third day of trial of this case.

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Related

Benoit v. Devillier
649 So. 2d 523 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
Andrews v. Mosley Well Service
514 So. 2d 491 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
Andrews v. Mosley Well Service, Inc.
505 So. 2d 1131 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
507 So. 2d 236, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 7789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrews-v-mosley-well-service-lactapp-1986.