Lee v. MGM Resorts Mississippi, Inc.

200 So. 3d 1129, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 57, 2016 WL 487038
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 9, 2016
DocketNo. 2014-CA-00475-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 200 So. 3d 1129 (Lee v. MGM Resorts Mississippi, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. MGM Resorts Mississippi, Inc., 200 So. 3d 1129, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 57, 2016 WL 487038 (Mich. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

WILSON, J„

for the Court:

¶ 1. As Christopher Lee was leaving the Gold Strike Casino1 in Tunica, he was assaulted by another patron, arrested, and charged with disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct. After all charges against him were dismissed, Lee sued Gold Strike and its employee Adrian Thomas for negligence and intentional torts. At trial, at [1132]*1132the close of Lee’s case-in-chief, the circuit court granted the defendants’ motion for a directed verdict. Lee appealed. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. On March 9, 2008, Lee went to Gold Strike Casino to see a band perform at the Stage Bar. Lee, who then worked as a chef at Fitzgerald’s Casino, left work late and stopped at the Horseshoe Casino for drinks before walking over to the Gold Strike sometime in the early morning hours of March 9. Lee said that once inside the Stage Bar, he realized that he had left his cigarettes in his car, which he had parked back at the Horseshoe Casino. He noticed a group of men smoking at a nearby table, and so he walked over to their table to ask if he could buy a cigarette. One of the men, John Mack Young, refused and began loudly cursing Lee. Lee went back to his table but said that Young continued to yell at him. Lee testified that he walked back over to Young’s table in an effort to calm him down. He testified that he also asked casino security officers for help. Eventually, casino security officers separated Young and Lee and told both to leave the casino. Security officers told Young to leave first. Once they believed that Young had left the building, they told Lee to leave. This occurred sometime after 3 a.m.

¶ 3. However, Young had not left the building. Instead, he was in the atrium between the door to the casino and the outside doors to the parking lot. When Lee passed by Young in the atrium, the two exchanged words again, Young pushed Lee, and a physical altercation ensued. Although most of the altercation occurred outside the view of the casino’s surveillance camera, Young can also be seen briefly throwing punches at Lee. When casino security officers arrived, Young admitted to assaulting Lee and was detained immediately.

¶ 4. The security officers then talked to Lee. Lee claimed that he told them that he was injured and needed an ambulance, which they refused to call. There is no dispute that Lee was then told to leave the property, that he refused to leave, and that casino security officers handcuffed him and took him to the casino’s security interview room because he refused. Lee testified that he refused to leave because if he “would have left that night, then Gold Strike would have said that [he] hurt [himself] somewhere else.” When officers from the Tunica County Sheriffs Department arrived, the casino’s employees pressed charges against Lee for disturbing the peace. The sheriffs department also charged Lee with disorderly conduct. The Tunica County Justice Court later dismissed both charges.

¶ 5. On March 6, 2009, Lee filed a complaint in the Tunica County Circuit Court against Gold Strike and one of its security officers, Adrian Thomas, asserting claims of negligence, assault and battery, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lee alleged and presented evidence at trial that during the altercation with Young, he had fractured and suffered other injuries to his arm and elbow, which required outpatient surgery and rehabilitation. A jury trial began on March 17, 2014. At the conclusion of Lee’s case, the circuit judge granted Gold Strike’s motion for a directed verdict on all claims. In a subsequent written order, the judge explained that, even if Lee remained an “invitee” after he was asked to leave the property, he failed to produce evidence that Gold Strike knew or should have known about Young’s violent nature or that there was an atmosphere of violence at the casino. Alterna[1133]*1133tively, the judge also concluded that Lee ceased to be an invitee when the casino initially told him to leave. In addition, the judge concluded that Lee had failed to present evidence sufficient to support any of his intentional tort claims. Lee appealed.

ANALYSIS

¶ 6. On appeal, Lee argues the trial judge erred by (1) denying three mistrial motions and allegedly “refusing to swear the jury panel”; (2) denying his request for a negative inference instruction based on alleged spoliation of evidence; (3) preventing him from introducing the defendants’ answers to interrogatories and an excerpt of Thomas’s deposition; and (4) granting a directed verdict.

I. Motions for Mistrial

¶ 7. Lee made three motions for a mistrial during his case-in-chief. First, Lee claimed the judge made improper and potentially prejudicial statements before the jury. Second, Lee claimed that the trial judge’s alleged failure to swear in the jury required a mistrial. Third, Lee asked for a mistrial because, in his view, he was improperly cross-examined on the absence of a witness. We address each of these briefly in turn.

A. Statements by the Trial Judge

¶ 8. In his first motion for mistrial, Lee claims the judge made improper statements in the presence of the'jury that prejudiced the jury against him. Lee specifically moved for a mistrial after the judge excluded some evidence on the ground that it was “too confusing” and “redundant.” The judge denied the motion. On appeal, Lee also complains, inter alia, that the judge asked him whether he had presented an exhibit to the court reporter for marking and asked opposing counsel whether he had any objection to another exhibit. He also asserts that during his case-in-chief, the judge laughingly asked the jurors if they were asleep or needed coffee.

¶ 9. Lee’s argument lacks merit. None of the judge’s statements prejudiced Lee or required a mistrial. We note that "the judge’s comments to the jurors about falling asleep and needing coffee occurred immediately after a series of lengthy bench conferences in the afternoon on the first day of trial, at which point Lee’s first witness, had only testified for a few minutes. In context, the judge’s comments obviously were a reference to the delay caused by the bench conferences, not Lee’s case.

¶ 10. Moreover, the issue is moot. The case never went to the jury, so we fail to see how the comments’ alleged influence on the jury could require reversal. This issue is wholly without merit.

B. Swearing of the Jury

¶ 11. Lee also argues that a mistrial was required because the trial judge failed to swear in the jury. In support, Lee cites Miller v. State, 122 Miss. 19, 84 So. 161, 161 (1920), which held that a convicted criminal-defendant was “denied his right of a fair trial by a legal jury” because the jury was not sworn in.' We first note that all prospective jurors in Lee’s jury pool were sworn prior to voir dire, although the record does not show the content of the oath — i.e., whether they were sworn to give a true verdict, see Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-71 (Rev.2012), or only to answer voir dire questions truthfully. Our Supreme Court has held that it is not reversible error to administer the former oath to all prospective jurors rather than after voir dire to only those selected to serve. See Wilburn v. State, 608 So.2d 702, 704-05. (Miss.1992).

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Bluebook (online)
200 So. 3d 1129, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 57, 2016 WL 487038, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-mgm-resorts-mississippi-inc-missctapp-2016.