Grundy v. Dhillon

900 N.E.2d 153, 120 Ohio St. 3d 415
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 2008
DocketNo. 2007-1292
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 900 N.E.2d 153 (Grundy v. Dhillon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grundy v. Dhillon, 900 N.E.2d 153, 120 Ohio St. 3d 415 (Ohio 2008).

Opinion

Cupp, J.

{¶ 1} A jury rejected appellee John Grundy’s claims that appellants, Dr. Jagprit Singh Dhillon and Emergency Professional Services, Inc., negligently caused the death of Susanne Sumner in treating her at the Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room. Grundy moved for a new trial, arguing that a juror had failed to disclose during voir dire that one of his family members had been treated at Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room and that the juror had a low opinion of the hospital’s standard of care. The trial court rejected the motion for a new trial, concluding that no juror misconduct had occurred. In so ruling, the trial court found that the juror had not falsely answered a question put to him but simply failed to volunteer information.

{¶ 2} The court of appeals reversed the trial court’s denial of the motion for a new trial. Dr. Dhillon and Emergency Professional Services appealed, and we granted discretionary review.

{¶ 3} This case presents the questions of the appropriate standard of review of a ruling on a new-trial motion based on alleged juror misconduct and the showing required to establish that a juror’s nondisclosure of material information on voir dire is sufficient to warrant a new trial. We hold that a trial court’s ruling on a motion for a new trial based on a juror’s failure to disclose information during voir dire is reviewed under the abuse-of-discretion standard. We further hold that to obtain a new trial on that ground, the moving party must show that a juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire and that the moving party was prejudiced by the presence on the trial jury of a juror who failed to disclose material information. To demonstrate prejudice, the moving party must show that an accurate response from the juror would have provided a valid basis for a for-cause challenge. Because we conclude that the court of appeals failed to accord sufficient deference to the trial court’s findings in ruling on the motion and incorrectly applied the legal standard, we reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and reinstate the jury verdict.

I

A

{¶ 4} Appellee, John C. Grundy, is the administrator of the estate of Susanne Cheryl Sumner. In October 2000, Sumner went to the Trumbull Memorial [417]*417Hospital emergency room, complaining of nausea, vomiting, chills, and mouth and jaw pain. After taking Sumner’s vital signs, hospital employees directed her to a section of the emergency room for patients with less serious conditions. Appellant Dr. Jagprit Singh Dhillon saw her there and diagnosed Sumner’s problem as severe tooth pain, nausea, and vomiting. Dhillon ordered an injection for Sumner’s pain and a medication for her vomiting.

{¶ 5} An hour later, Sumner was still vomiting. Dhillon ordered the emergency room staff to transfer Sumner to the area for patients with more serious conditions. He also ordered more medication for vomiting, an I.V. to prevent dehydration, and blood tests. Those tests revealed an elevated white-blood-cell count with a “left shift” and low serum bicarbonate levels, both of which indicated an infection. An hour after the test results came back, Sumner decided to go home. Dhillon did not order a “P.O.” trial before he ordered Sumner’s discharge from the hospital. (A P.O. trial is used to determine whether a patient can keep fluids down.) That evening, Sumner continued to vomit, but declined to return to the hospital.

{¶ 6} In the early morning hours of the next day, Sumner reported that she could not feel her fingers or feet. Sumner was transported to Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room and arrived at around 2:47 a.m. Dr. Adam Costarella saw her in the emergency room, diagnosed her with meningococcemia, and gave her antibiotics and steroids. Sumner eventually was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, where she died on October 28, 2000.

B

{¶ 7} In February 2002, Grundy, as administrator of Sumner’s estate, sued appellants Dhillon, Emergency Professional Services, Inc., the group of doctors for whom Dhillon worked, and Forum Health, the legal entity that does business as Trumbull Memorial Hospital. Among other claims, Grundy asserted a wrongful-death claim due to Dhillon’s allegedly negligent treatment of Sumner. Emergency Professional Services had a contract with Forum Health to provide doctors to staff the Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room. (Forum Health was later dismissed as a defendant and is not a party to this appeal.)

{¶ 8} A jury heard the case in 2004. Much of the evidence in the case focused on whether Dr. Dhillon’s treatment of Sumner met the applicable standard of care. During voir dire, Grundy’s lawyer asked the panel of potential jurors whether they had been patients at Trumbull Memorial Hospital. Juror Anthony Krusely Jr. volunteered that he had gone to the emergency room after a car accident and that his injuries were not serious. Grundy’s lawyer then asked the panel if anyone had taken a family member to the Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room. Another juror responded “yes.” Grundy’s lawyer asked that juror if anything about that experience would influence his decision in the case. [418]*418But before the juror could answer, Grundy’s lawyer proceeded to another line of questioning.

{¶ 9} Grundy’s lawyer later asked three new questions at once: “Do you believe it is reasonable to expect that Emergency Professional Services, Inc., if they are going to sublet the emergency room in our community hospital, would hire qualified doctors to handle the emergency room? You think that is a reasonable expectation? What do you expect from an emergency room doctor?” Grundy’s lawyer turned to juror Krusely and asked him, “[W]hat do you expect?” Krusely answered those questions, but did not respond to counsel’s earlier question regarding whether the jurors had taken family members to Trumbull emergency room. After Krusely’s response to the last set of compound questions, Grundy’s lawyer moved on to question another juror.

{¶ 10} Later during voir dire, Grundy’s lawyer again went back to Krusely and asked him: “Have you heard anything so far that makes you feel that you couldn’t be fair?” Krusely replied: “No.” Grundy’s lawyer asked Krusely about his time in Germany in military service and his prior jury experience. Then Grundy’s lawyer asked him again: “Do you think you can be fair to both sides and decide the case on the evidence?” Krusely answered, “Yes, absolutely.”

{¶ 11} At the end of the trial, the jury returned a verdict for Dhillon and Emergency Professional Services. The jury specifically found in response to an interrogatory that Dhillon was not negligent in his treatment of Sumner. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict in favor of appellants.

{¶ 12} After the trial, counsel for Grundy interviewed some of the jurors outside the courthouse. During that interview, juror Krusely told the lawyer that he had taken his son to the Trumbull Memorial Hospital emergency room some time ago, and that based on that experience, he believed that the hospital’s standard of care was low.

{¶ 13} Grundy filed a motion for a new trial under Civ.R. 59. Grundy argued that Krusely’s failure to disclose his past experience with Trumbull Memorial Hospital constituted misconduct that warranted a new trial. (Grundy also argued that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence, but that basis for the motion is not before us in this appeal.) The trial court held a hearing on the new-trial motion.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
900 N.E.2d 153, 120 Ohio St. 3d 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grundy-v-dhillon-ohio-2008.