Montgomery Ward Co., Inc. v. Curtis

1947 OK 388, 188 P.2d 199, 199 Okla. 525, 1947 Okla. LEXIS 751
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 23, 1947
DocketNo. 32574
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1947 OK 388 (Montgomery Ward Co., Inc. v. Curtis) 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
Montgomery Ward Co., Inc. v. Curtis, 1947 OK 388, 188 P.2d 199, 199 Okla. 525, 1947 Okla. LEXIS 751 (Okla. 1947).

Opinion

ARNOLD, J.

This is an action for personal injuries by Ruby Curtis against Montgomery Ward & Company, a corporation.

On January 31, 1942, plaintiff was about to enter defendant’s store in the city of Cushing as a customer when she slipped on ice near the east front entrance of the building and fell; the fall resulted in a broken ankle and internal injuries from which she was still suffering at the time of the trial, October 8, 1945.

This case has been twice tried, the first trial on December 30, 1942, resulting in a verdict for defendant and an order of the trial court granting a new trial from which there was an appeal to this court. (Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Ruby Curtis, 195 Okla. 48, 166 P. 2d 248.)

The second trial of the case was had upon issues raised by an amended petition, answer and reply. In substance, it was alleged by plaintiff that through the negligence and carelessness of defendant the awning in front of its building was permitted to be and to remain in a state of bad repair which resulted in melting snow and. falling rain dripping through said awning on to the entrance way into said building where ice was formed and permitted to remain which caused ,a hazard to the public generally and to the plaintiff in particular in entering said place of business and that as a result of such carelessness and negligence on the part of the defendant, plaintiff sustained her injuries.

The parties will be herein referred to as plaintiff and defendant as they appeared in the trial court.

Defendant has assigned numerous errors in its petition in error, but in its brief here only three questions are presented. No question is raised as to the sufficiency of the evidence to establish primary negligence and injury, the correctness of the court’s instructions to the jury or excessiveness of the verdict. Defendant’s first contention is as to alleged error of the trial court in overruling its motion for a mistrial based upon alleged misconduct of one of the jurors upon his voir dire examination. This proposition reads:

[526]*526“The trial court erred in overruling defendant’s motion for a mistrial, which was based upon the misconduct of juror Hartman, who denied on voir dire that' he had ever been represented by plaintiff’s counsel when as a matter of record he was represented by said counsel in litigation a few months prior to the second trial of this case.”

Under this proposition it is argued that failure to disclose fully in answer to appropriate questions on voir dire examination, which results in failure to exercise a peremptory challenge afforded by statute, is reversible error without a showing of prejudice.

It appears on the examination of the juror Hartman as to his qualifications to sit as a juror on the trial of this case, he was saked if plaintiff’s attorneys had ever represented him in any litigation, to which he answered that said attorneys had represented the school board of the city of Sapulpa of which he was a member in litigation several years before. No challenge for cause was made against this juror at the conclusion of his examination, though he was the last juror examined and defendant had one remaining peremptory challenge. After the trial began and before the completion of the direct examination of the first witness, a civil engineer, the court took a recess for the noon hour. About 1:30 p.m., in the judge’s chambers, defendant made its motion for a mistrial alleging misconduct of the juror Hartman in failing to disclose upon his examination that plaintiff’s attorneys had, about two years prior to the instant trial, represented the Victory Building Corporation and C. H. Hartman in litigation. At this hearing plaintiff’s attorneys offered to let the juror Hartman be excused and try the case before the Remaining eleven jurors, which offer defendant’s attorneys declined. The pleadings and journal entry in the case of William A. Porter v. Victory Building Corporation and C. H. Hartman were introduced without objection which show that judgment was entered in the case against both defendants for the sum of $100.

It was stipulated that Mr. Johnson, of counsel for the defendant, asked the juror “whether the firm of Speakman & Speakman had ever represented him, and he answered the question by stating that they represented him as a member of the school board”, and made no further disclosure. Mr. Johnson and Brown Moore, another attorney for the defendant, testified that if they had known that plaintiff’s attorney had represented the juror Hartman in the case against the Victory Building Corporation and Hartman, they would have excused him peremptorily. After hearing the evidence offered upon the motion, the judge denied the same over the objection and exception of the defendant. Thereupon, the trial was resumed and the juror Hartman remained upon the jury, which returned a unanimous verdict.

Defendant’s motion for new trial was based in part upon the alleged error of the court in refusing to declare a mistrial. Upon the hearing of that motion plaintiff introduced the affidavit of juror Hartman and the affidavit of the juror Bradford, who was the foreman of the jury, by which affidavits it is disclosed that the juror Hartman, as a member of the jury, was opposed to the amount of the verdict returned by the jury thinking it was too much, as was also the juror Bradford, and that they agreed to the unanimous verdict only after nine members of the jury had agreed upon the amount returned.

It is contended by defendant that this action of the trial judge resulted in retaining upon the jury a member who was not satisfactory to defendant, and that his right to exercise his remaining peremptory challenge was defeated by the misconduct of the juror and the ruling of the court on its motion.

The rule adopted and long adhered to in this jurisdiction in reference to alleged errors occurring in the voir [527]*527dire examination of jurors has been variously expressed, but its substance has always remained the same. This rule has been well expressed in the recent case of Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Co. v. Carter, 177 Okla. 1, 57 P. 2d 864, where, in the third paragraph of the syllabus, this language is used:

“The competency and qualifications of jurors in the trial of a case must be left largely to the discretion of the trial court. The court’s rulings thereon will not be reversed unless it plainly appears that the court has abused its discretion.”

There is nothing in the record to show that the juror Hartman was a stockholder in the Victory Building Corporation or that he -had any direct interest in the affairs of that corporation. It is disclosed he was merely the manager and superintendent of the corporation’s building in the city of Sapulpa. It is also affirmatively shown that the attorneys representing the corporation in that litigation were employed by the corporation, that their fee was paid by the corporation, and that the judgment rendered against the corporation in that action was paid by it. The fact that plaintiff’s attorneys once represented the school board, of which the juror Hartman was a member, which was disclosed on his examination, was not made a basis of challenge for cause of said juror. Evidently defendant’s attorneys did not at that time consider him biased in favor of the plaintiff or prejudiced against the defendant by reason of such interest in that prior litigation.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gaither by & Through Chalfin v. City of Tulsa
1983 OK 61 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1983)
McAlester Urban Renewal Authority v. Lorince
1973 OK 148 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1973)
Geesing v. Pendergrass
1966 OK 149 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1966)
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Co. v. Caster
1965 OK 10 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1965)
Keck v. Bruster
1962 OK 35 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1962)
M & P Stores, Inc. v. Taylor
1958 OK 123 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1958)
Lee v. Swyden
1957 OK 331 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1957)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1947 OK 388, 188 P.2d 199, 199 Okla. 525, 1947 Okla. LEXIS 751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-ward-co-inc-v-curtis-okla-1947.