Estate of Brunson v. White

299 N.E.2d 186, 157 Ind. App. 211, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1000
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 31, 1973
DocketNo. 1-872A37
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 299 N.E.2d 186 (Estate of Brunson v. White) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Brunson v. White, 299 N.E.2d 186, 157 Ind. App. 211, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1000 (Ind. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

Lowdermilk, J.

Plaintiff-appellee filed a claim for services rendered, including nursing services, against the estate of her deceased father. The claim was disallowed and transferred to the Entry and Issue Docket for trial. On February 2, 1972, [212]*212the jury returned its verdict in favor of the plaintiff-appellee for $12,850 on which the court duly entered judgment on February 11,1972.

On February 10, 1972, defendant-appellant’s counsel discovered that during the last day of the trial, which was recessed from about 10:30 A.M. until 1:30 P.M. preparatory to making closing arguments and instructing the jury, and after both parties had rested, a juror, namely Edwin P. Kerr, without the knowledge of the court, the parties, lawyers or other jurors, allegedly went to a nursing home in Conners-ville, inquired as to the value of nursing services and wrote down the information obtained in a day book.

Mr. Kerr was later elected foreman of the jury. During the course of jury deliberations he allegedly informed the other jurors he had obtained charges for nursing home care and for various types of nursing services, which rates and charges he had obtained during the noon recess at the nursing home from Nurse Jenkins and which he read from his “day book.”

The only evidence presented to the jury by the plaintiff-appellee as to value of services rendered was by Roberta Keller, claimant’s niece, who was a registered nurse at Columbus.

She testified that she had called and asked about the charges for private nursing and practical nursing and that was the information she had as to the value thereof. In fact, she testified she could not give an opinion as to value of services for nursing and household services rendered by the claimant. She did testify that she thought private duty practical nurses received $25.00 for an 8 hour shift.

On the same day, defendant-appellant’s counsel first learned of Mr. Kerr’s conduct OUTSIDE the presence of the jury and on that very day counsel Himelick interviewed Mr. Kerr; on February 11, 1972, defense counsel Wolf interviewed Nurse Ann Jenkins at the nursing home and also interviewed juror William H. Eckerle on February 17,1972.

[213]*213Thereafter, on March 31, 1972, defendant-appellant filed her motion to correct errors setting forth the specification of the misconduct of a juror. This is an appeal from an adverse ruling on that motion.

The trial court had correctly admonished the jurors in preliminary instructions not to talk to any other persons about the trial, not to form or express an opinion until the case was finally submitted to them, and to reach a verdict solely upon what they heard and saw in court; that during the progress of the trial the jurors were not permitted to ask questions of any of the witnesses, the parties or their attorneys; nor were the jurors permitted to take notes of the proceedings, and when an exhibit was introduced into evidence it might be exhibited to the jurors at that time but without discussion at the time the exhibits were submitted to the jurors.

Affidavits of Mrs. Jenkins of the nursing home, of attorney Wolf, based entirely upon information supplied by juror Eckerle, and the affidavit of attorney Himelick on the information supplied by juror Kerr were filed at the same time as the motion to correct errors.

Defendant-appellant vigorously contends that Mr. Kerr’s evidence was obtained OUTSIDE the courtroom for the sole purpose of helping the plaintiff and read the cost figures to the other jurors so as to influence them with his evidence and to insure that an award would be made to Mrs. White in an amount to Mr. Kerr’s satisfaction, all of which prevented the defendant from receiving a fair and impartial trial.

Mrs. Jenkins, the registered nurse at the nursing home, stated by affidavit that an unidentified man came to the Center on February 2, 1972, at approximately 12 noon and conducted a detailed interrogation of her regarding nursing care costs, which costs she gave him and he promptly left. Apparently Mrs. Jenkins knew nothing about the lawsuit and was not a party thereto.

[214]*214The affidavit submitted by attorney Himelick was to the effect that he conferred with Mr. Kerr, who admitted his conversation with Mrs. Jenkins and that Mr. Kerr admitted making his findings known to the other jurors and Mr. Kerr stated that the jury had received no instructions not to receive OUTSIDE information relating to the cause.

The affidavit submitted by attorney Wolf to the trial court related the statement of William H. Eckerle, a member of the jury, wherein Eckerle stated he had heard the case and when the jury retired to deliberate the matter Mr. Kerr was elected foreman and told the jury he had gone to the Connersville Nursing Home, obtained the figures on the cost of nursing home care, and Mr. Kerr had these figures written down in a “day book” and read said figures to members of the jury.

Defendant-appellant contends that the evidence in affidavit form was competent and should have been considered by the trial judge and that it would have been proper for the trial judge to have brought the jurors and Mrs. Jenkins into court and heard their evidence as to what happened OUTSIDE the jury room. He further contends that the affidavits of attorneys are not affidavits permitting the jurors to impeach their own verdict and urges that the court should have accepted those affidavits as evidence of gross misconduct of the jury proceedings which procedurely denied the defendant a fair trial.

Misconduct is defined in Burns Ind. Ann. Stat. § 2-2016 at follows:

“Caution by court at each adjournment — If the jury, are permitted to separate, either during the trial or after the cause is submitted to them, they must be admonished by the court that it is their duty not to converse with each other, or suffer themselves to be addressed by any other person, on any subject of the trial; and during the trial, that it is their duty not to form or express among themselves, an opinion thereon, until the cause is finally submitted to them.”

[215]*215Defendant-appellant cites Lowe’s Revision of Works Indiana Practice, Vol. 4, § 61.37, which states that it is misconduct which will vitiate the verdict for any of the jurors to visit the premises or property in controversy, especially if he converses with others about the same.

This statement of the law is reaffirmed in the case of Western Indiana Gravel Co. v. Opp (1951), 121 Ind. App. 673, 99 N.E.2d 265, wherein the court said:

“The law is well settled that anything the jurors saw cannot be considered as evidence and that damages can be recovered only upon evidence introduced at the trial, subject to proper instructions from the court.”

Defendant-appellant further cites from Lowe’s Revision of Works Indiana Practice, Vol. 4, § 61.39 as follows:

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Related

Wagner v. Riley
499 N.E.2d 1155 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1986)
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419 N.E.2d 203 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
299 N.E.2d 186, 157 Ind. App. 211, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1000, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-brunson-v-white-indctapp-1973.