Bluebird Baking Co. v. McCarthy

36 N.E.2d 801, 36 N.E. 801, 19 Ohio Law. Abs. 466, 3 Ohio Op. 490, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1270
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 2, 1935
DocketNo 2479
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 36 N.E.2d 801 (Bluebird Baking Co. v. McCarthy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bluebird Baking Co. v. McCarthy, 36 N.E.2d 801, 36 N.E. 801, 19 Ohio Law. Abs. 466, 3 Ohio Op. 490, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1270 (Ohio Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

OPINION

By BARNES, J.

This is the final order from which error is prosecuted in this court.

Plaintiff in error in its petition in error sets out nine specifications of error. In the brief of counsel for plaintiff in error these claimed errors) are re-classified under 7 separate headings as follows:

(1) It was prejudicial error to permit the examination of a prospective juror on his voir dire as to his interest in an automobile casualty insurance company.

(2) The court erred in charging the jury that in awarding damages they could allow recovery for impairment of earning capacity during infancy.

(3) The court erred in admitting over the objection of plaintiff in error hearsay evidence by Dr. Chapin, an expert witness, offered by defendant in error of what one Dr. Murphy, a reputably recognized brain specialist had at one time said orally in a speech to* the effect that, “If he received an injury to his head he would rather it would kill him and he would never get well, because he felt his brain would be affected to the extent that he would never have normal mentality.!’

(4) The trial court erred in admitting over the objection of plaintiff in error voluminous and prolonged evidence relating to injuries not pleaded in the petition.

[468]*468(5) It was prejudicial error to permit the jurors with their hands and fingers to feel and manipulate the skull of defendant in error.

(6) The court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiff in error for a directed verdict in its favor at the conclusion of all the evidence.

(7) The verdict of $5000.00 was grossly excessive.

i

We shall take up, discuss and determine the several grounds of error in the same order as above set out.

GROUND NO. 1. IT WAS PREJUDICIAL ERROR TO PERMIT THE EXAMINATION OP A PROSPECTIVE JUROR ON HIS VOIR DIRE AS TO HIS INTEREST IN AN AUTOMOBILE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.

It appears from the bill of exceptions that during the impaneling of the jury a Mr. Trott, upon being examined on the voir dire, among other things was asked the following questions over the objection of counsel for defendant.

“Q. I am going to. ask you, Mr. Trott if any of your investments are in automobile casualty insurance companies?
MR. KOHN: I object to the question and move the court to dismiss the panel.
A. Not that I know of.
THE COURT: Just a minute, that does not raise a new question.
MR. KOHN: Judge Jones expressed his opinion just recently on that proposition two or three weeks ago.
THE COURT: Objection and motion overruled.
MR. KOHN: Note an exception.”

At the time of the trial, the case of Pavilonis v Valentine, 120 Oh St, 154, had not been modified and under the authority of that case the trial court followed the prescribed rule in overruling the objection. Following the trial and after petition in error had been filed in our court, the Supreme Court of Ohio decided the case of Vega, Admr. v Evans, 128 Oh St, 535, and therein reversed their former ruling. Syllabus 3 of the Vega case reads as follows:

“3. It is error to permit the examination of a prospective juror on his voir dire and as to. his connection with, interest in or relationship to any liability insurance company as such unless such insurance company is party to the litigation or unless it has theretofore been disclosed to the court by such company or by the defense that such insurance company is actively and directly interested in the litigation. (Paragraph 3 of the Syllabus Pavilonis v Valentine, supra, overruled).”

Following the decision of the Supreme Court in the Vega case, counsel for plaintiff sought a diminution of the record and the following was added:

“Upon the trial of this case before the empanelling and examination of the jury in open court' but outside the hearing of the prospective jury it came to the knowledge of the court and counsel for plaintiff during an effort to compromise said case initiated by the court that defendant corn-company carried liability insurance and that counsel present represented the insurance company as well as defendant company and that no officer of defendant company was in court for trial of said case.”

This court within the past month had under consideration this identical question in case No. 2509, Central Transfer and Storage Company v Frost, Franklin County, Ohio. The two cases were tried before the same trial court but to a different jury. In each case the trial judge in the absence of the jury interviewed counsel in the interest of bringing about a compromise. In each case through these negotiations it was disclosed, that counsel for defendant in reality represented an insurance company. Each case was tried before the decision of the Supreme Court in the Vega Case supra. In each case there was a diminution of the record in substantially the same form. In the Frost case the majority of our court held to the view that the inquiry of the juror on the voir dire was reversible error. In each case it was contended that since the trial court acted properly under the then existing law as announced in the Pavilonis case, the Vega case should not have a retroactive effect. We discussed this phase of the case also in the Frost case and therein cited the case of Cummins v Sidney, 93 Oh St 328 and Volume 11 Ohio Jurisprudence, page 790, §140, holding that under actions of this character a decision of the Supreme Court overruling or modifying an earlier precedent is retroactive in its operation.

Counsel for plaintiff in the instant case argue very persuasively that the instant case is to be distinguished from the reported case in that the inquiry was only made of one juror and under such circumstances as would show absolute good faith. If this was the only question of error in[469]*469volved in the case, we might have considerable difficulty in satisfactorily determining this phase, but since we are of the opinion that the cause must be reversed and remanded on another ground, we pass this first ground without further comment.

GROUND NO. 2. THE COURT ERRED IN CHARGING THE JURY THAT IN AWARDING DAMAGES THEY COULD ALLOW RECOVERY .FOR IMPAIRMENT OF EARNING CAPACITY DURING INFANCY.

The portion of the Court’s charge objected to reads as follows:

“If you find for the plaintiff you will allow him such damages as in your judgment he is entitled to receive. The measure of his damage and recovery is compensation. In this case you can allow nothing for any expense for there is no claim made as to expense that is not the cause of action of the minor in this case and there is no evidence on the point of expense. The measure of his damages, if you find for him is compensation. In arriving at the amount you may take into consideration the nature and.extent of his injuries, the permanency or lack of permanency of his injuries; the pain or suffering to which he máy have been put by reason of such injuries or may be put in the future; the condition of the plaintiff at the present time and the condition that he may be in the future by reason of such injuries.

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Bluebook (online)
36 N.E.2d 801, 36 N.E. 801, 19 Ohio Law. Abs. 466, 3 Ohio Op. 490, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bluebird-baking-co-v-mccarthy-ohioctapp-1935.