Lund v. Kline

24 Ohio Law. Abs. 387
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 10, 1937
DocketNo 2724
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 24 Ohio Law. Abs. 387 (Lund v. Kline) 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
Lund v. Kline, 24 Ohio Law. Abs. 387 (Ohio Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

OPINION

By GIEGER, J.

The action below was one to recover damages for injuries received by the plaintiff in an automobile accident. The verdict of the jury was in favor of the plaintiff, in the sum of $2,700.00; such verdict being signed by ten members of the jury. A motion for a new trial was filed, and overruled.

The assignment of errors submitted by the defendant are:

1. The jury was guilty of misconduct, by which defendant was prevented from having a fair trial.
2. The verdict is illegal because it was a result of chance.
3. The verdict is contrary to law.

The assignments 4. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 refer to alleged errors of the court, and will be noted in more detail as they may become of importance. The assignments of errors 1, 2 and 3 may be discussed together, as they all relate to the alleged misconduct of the jury.

The complaint is that the verdict was a quotient verdict, arrived at by each of the ten • members of the jury finding in favor of plaintiff, submitting a figure, which, added together, totaled $27,000.00, and being divided by ten (10), the concurring number of the jury, resulted in $2,700.00, the verdict returned.

A number of affidavits are included in the bill of exceptions. We may note their allegations briefly, beginning with that of George E. Prater, an associate of the law firm representing defendant below.

He states that the cause was submitted to the jury on May 15, 1936, at approximately 4:30 o’clock P. M.; that the jury returned a verdict at 5:00 P. M.; that he was present in court, and overheard some conversation not pertinent to the misconduct of the jury; that immediately at the conclusion of the conversation between Mr. Ford and Mr. Glenn (a juro!'), he accompanied Mr. Ford into the room where the jury had deliberated, and assisted Mr. Ford in taking from the waste paper basket ten slips of paper, on each of which a figure was written, and that he personally examined said slips of paper; that one disclosed the figure $5,000.00, four, the figure $3,000.00, three,- the figure $2.500.00, one, the figure $2,000.00, and. one, the figure $1,000.00; that he saw Mr. Ford pick up a sheet of paper on which the affiant saw that the above figures were added to the sum of $27,000.00, [389]*389then divided by ten, showing a result of $2,700.00. The record shows that the verdict was signed by ten members of the jury.

The affidavit of Mr. Ford states that he was a member of the law firm representing defendant; that immediately after the jury had reported he talked to H. W. Glenn, the foreman of the jury, and inquired of said H. W. Glenn how the jury arrived at the amount assessed, and H. W. Glenn informed him of the manner in which the jury arrived at the verdict. This part of the affidavit can not be considered, because it was simply a recital of what the juror told Mr. Ford. The pertinent part of the affidavit recites practically the same facts as recited by George E. Prater, which need not be repeated.

Attached to an exhibit are twelve purported ballots, ten having written upon them the word “yes,” and two, the word “no”, although as to one of these negatives it m'ght equally be read “yes.” Attached also are the purported ballots with figures as follows; One $1000, two $2,000.00, two $2500, four $3,000, and one $5,000. There is also attached to the exhibit the sl:p spoken of by affiant as adding $27,000.00, made up of the following figures:

10,000
7.000
1.000
9,000
10/ 27,000
$ 2,700

There are also included in the bill of exceptions the affidavits of nine of the jurors, eight of whom signed the verdict, and one of whom d’d not. Two signing did not file affidavits. It will not be necessary to recite the contents of all these affidavits, but we may use that of H. W. Glenn, foreman of the jury, as being typical.

He states that after the jury retired to deliberate, he was elected as foreman, and so served; that after he had been elected a ballot was taken on separate slips of paper to determine whether a verdict would be returned for plaintiff, and ten jurors voted “yes,” and two voted “no”; that the ten who voted “yes” decided and agreed that each should write down on a slip of paper the amount he or she thought the verdict should be; and that these amounts added together and divided by ton would result in the amount to be assessed as damage; that the jurors further agreed ihat they would each sign the verdict, and agreed to abide by and be bound by said result, and that in accordance with the agreement, each of the ten voting in favor of plaintiff wrote on a separate slip of paper the amount he or she thought the amount of the verdict should be; that immediately thereafter Mrs. Smith and Mr. Jobes added the figures on 'the ten slips of paper, and that they totaled $27,000.00; that they divided said total by ten and got $2,700.00 as the result; that Mrs. Smith inserted this amount in the form of verdict for plaintiff which was sent to the jury room with the jury; that thereafter the ten jurors who voted for the verdict for plaintiff signed the verdict, and thereafter in open court agreed that that was their verdict; that it was late in the afternoon when the court sent the jury to the jury room to deliberate; that several of the jurors were anxious to complete their work and get away; that the slips of paper exhibited to him by Mr. Ford appear to be the slips used by said jurors in balloting to determine whether the verdict should be for the plaintiff or defendant, and for the purpose of determining the amount of the verdict; that the larger slip of paper contained the figures 10,000, 7000, 1000 and 9000, the total 27,000, the division of said 27,000 by ten. The resulting figure 2700 was the figure he or Mrs. Smith used in inserting, the amount of the verdict.

Mr. Glenn stated that Leon Jobes and Mrs. Smith added the figures. Mr. Leon Jobes states in substance the same as Mr. Glenn, and that ten jurors voted “yes”, and two voted “no”; that the ten voting “yes” decided that each would write the amount to be given, and that these amounts would be added together and divided by ten, the result to be the final verdict, and that each of the ten would sign the verdict; that this procedure was followed and the resulting quotient was $2700 which each of the ten jurors signed as the verdict, and it was then immediately returned to the court; that there was no discussion in the jury room as to the value of the plaintiff’s damages or injuries, or the loss of business, and there was no discussion as to the amount of the verdict after the figure of $2,700.00 was determined, as above set forth.

Mrs. Smith does not appear to have made an affidavit.

Without 'going further into detail with the affidavits, it would appear that they are in practical harmony, to the effect that it w’as late in the afternoon when the jury retired to the jury room; that after they had ascertained that ten jurors were in' [390]*390favor of a verdict for the plaintiff, these ten agreed that each should write the figure that he or she thought should be the amount of the verdict, and that the ten having done so the total amounted to $27,000.00.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
24 Ohio Law. Abs. 387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lund-v-kline-ohioctapp-1937.