Linden v. Southwestern National Insurance Co.

1974 OK 71, 523 P.2d 1076
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 11, 1974
DocketNo. 45785
StatusPublished

This text of 1974 OK 71 (Linden v. Southwestern National Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Linden v. Southwestern National Insurance Co., 1974 OK 71, 523 P.2d 1076 (Okla. 1974).

Opinions

DAVISON, Chief Justice:

This appeal arises in a civil action in which the appellee, Lawrence J. Linden, Sr. (plaintiff), sought a money judgment in the amount of $336.62 against the appellant, Southwestern National Insurance Company (defendant). Trial to a jury resulted in a verdict, and judgment, for the plaintiff in the amount of $336.62.

Defendant appealed. Its only allegation of error is that the trial court erred in denying its motion for a mistrial based upon the trial judge’s having talked with the jurors, in the jury room, after submitting the cause to the jury, without notifying, or attempting to notify, the parties or their counsel he was going to do so.

The appeal was assigned to the Court of Appeals, Division No. 2, for decision. That court held that the motion for a mistrial should have been sustained, reversed the judgment, and remanded the cause of a new trial. Plaintiff seeks cer-tiorari. We grant certiorari, vacate the decision of the Court of Appeals, and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

A transcript of proceedings reflects the following situation: The cause was finally submitted to the jury about 3:45 p. m. Shortly after 5 :30 p. m., defendant’s counsel observed the trial judge standing just inside the open doorway to the jury room, talking with the jurors, but did not hear what was being said. Immediately thereafter, in the court room, he moved the court to declare a mistrial based upon that communication with the jurors, stating that he had not been notified that the judge intended to talk with the jurors about anything. In overruling the motion for a mistrial, the court said:

“Let the record show that at half past five the Court, as is customary in such cases where there is a delayed decision by the jury advised the jury, with the door open, that they should look after their automobiles which may be parked in public parking lots because the parking lots have a custom or habit of locking up all cars at six o’clock and depositing the keys with some merchants whose address is at the present time unknown and that the only reason the Court rapped on the door and spoke to the jury with the open door was to advise them to look after their cars or they might find them unable to use them that night. * * * that was all that was said. The door was open and anybody that wanted to could have heard what the Court advised the jury.”

And, counsel for the plaintiff made the following statement for the record.

“I will state that I was not notified as to any statements that were to be made [1078]*1078to the jury. However, I was in the outer office, the Judge was standing holding the door, he may have perhaps been inside the jury room but right at the door. That he did discuss with the jurors their possible problems concerning getting their cars out of the parking lots in the adjacent areas. I believe there was also some comment made by a juror as to how long they would stay and I believe the Judge indicated that they could stay that night until they reached a verdict or else they could come back in the morning. This, to the best of my recollection, was the nature of the discussion and incident.”

Plaintiff argues that the error, if the incident constituted error, must be disregarded as harmless, under the provisions of the statute appearing as 20 O.S.1971 § 3001:

“No judgment shall be set aside or new trial granted by any appellate court of this state in any case, civil or criminal, on the ground of * * * error in any matter of pleading or procedure, unless it be the opinion of the reviewing court that the error complained of has probably resulted in a miscarriage of justice, or constitutes a substantial violation of a constitutional or statutory right.”

The defendant does not argue that the incident, as hereinabove outlined, probably resulted in a miscarriage of justice, or point out any provision of the federal or state constitution providing any right that was violated thereby. Apparently, there are only three Oklahoma statutes concerning the matter of communicating with a jury, or jurors, after the cause has been submitted to the jury. They are 12 O.S.1971 §§ S80, 581, and 582. All of them appear now as they did in the Revised Laws of 1910. They provide, respectively, as follows :

“When the case is finally submitted to the jury, they may decide in court or retire for deliberation. If they retire, they must be kept together, in some convenient place, under charge of an officer, until they agree upon a verdict or be discharged by the court, subject to the discretion of the court, to permit them to separate temporarily at night, and at their meals. The officer having them under his charge shall not suffer any communication to be made to them, or make any himself, except to ask them if they are agreed upon their verdict, unless by order of the court-, and he shall not, before their verdict is rendered, communicate to any person the state of their deliberations, or the verdict agreed upon.”
(Emphasis supplied)
“If the jury are permitted to separate, either during the trial or after the case is submitted to them, they shall be admonished by the court that it is their duty not to converse with, or suffer themselves to be addressed by, any other person, on any subject of the trial, and that it is their duty not to form or express an opinion thereon, until the case is finally submitted to them.”
(Emphasis supplied)
“After the jury have retired for deliberation, if there be a disagreement between them as to any part of the testimony, or if they desire to be informed as to any part of the law arising in the case, they may request the officer to conduct them to the court, where the information on the point of law shall be given in writing, and the court may give its recollections as to the testimony on the point in dispute, or cause the same to be read by the stenographer in the presence of, or after notice to, the parties or their counsel!’
(Emphasis supplied)

It is to be noted that Section 582 is the only one of the three statutes which even mentions “in the presence of, or after notice to, the parties or their counsel,” or comparable language, or which requires that the communication with the jurors take place in the court room. It is concerned only with the giving of certain information relating to the case being considered by the jury, that is, a point of law [1079]*1079arising in the case (which information must be given in writing) and testimony as to which there is a disagreement among the jurors.

The defendant relies upon the following language in Ford v. Stone Trucking Company, Okl., 435 P.2d 565, 568:

“* * * The settled rule is that a trial court cannot communicate with the jury after submission of a cause except in open court and the presence of counsel, or at least after notice to the parties and their counsel. Osage Mercantile Co. v. Harris, 52 Okl. 78, 152 P. 408; Roark v. McCutchan, 128 Okl. 186, 261 P. 938. And compare Okla. City v. Collins-Dietz-Morris Co., 183 Okl. 264, 79 P.2d 791.”

The fact situation in that case is indicated in the third paragraph of the syllabus :

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Bluebook (online)
1974 OK 71, 523 P.2d 1076, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/linden-v-southwestern-national-insurance-co-okla-1974.