Proudfoot v. Dan's Marine Service, Inc.

558 S.E.2d 298, 210 W. Va. 498
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 8, 2002
Docket29291
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 558 S.E.2d 298 (Proudfoot v. Dan's Marine Service, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Proudfoot v. Dan's Marine Service, Inc., 558 S.E.2d 298, 210 W. Va. 498 (W. Va. 2002).

Opinions

MAYNARD, J.

Dan’s Marine Service, Inc., the appellant and defendant below, appeals the July 27, 2000 order of the Circuit Court of Taylor County in which the circuit court denied the appellant’s motion for a new trial. After reviewing the issue raised by the appellant, we reverse and remand.

I.

FACTS

On August 16, 1996, Laurel Proudfoot, the plaintiff below and appellee, was injured when she fell through the floating dock at the marina at Tygart Lake in Taylor County, West Virginia. The marina was operated by Dan’s Marine Service, Inc., the defendant below and appellant.

Ms. Proudfoot subsequently filed a personal injury action against Dan’s Marine Service. Liability was admitted, and a two-day trial was held on February 16 and 17, 2000, on the issues of causation and damages. After hearing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict for Ms. Proudfoot in the amount of $140,956.45. In its March 6, 2000 order, the circuit court entered judgment for Ms. Proudfoot in the amount of $143,387.39 which included pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.

Dan’s Marine Service filed a motion for a new trial in which it alleged, inter alia, that one of the jurors, Olive Crow, had been convicted of a felony and was, therefore, disqualified from sitting on a jury pursuant to W.Va.Code § 52 — 1—8(b)(6). Subsequent hearings on the motion revealed that several years earlier Ms. Crow had pled guilty to one count of embezzlement. On the juror qualification form filled out by potential jurors prior to trial, Ms. Crow had answered “No” to the question “Have you ever been convicted of perjury, false swearing, or other infamous crime?” Further, Ms. Crow failed to reveal her felony conviction during voir dire when the circuit court inquired of the jury panel whether any of them had been convicted of a felony.1 Dan’s Marine Service asserted that Ms. Crow’s statutory disqualification from serving as a juror automatically mandated the granting of a new trial.

[501]*501In its July 27, 2000 order denying Dan’s Marine Service’s motion for a new trial, the Circuit Court of Taylor County made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

First, the Court finds and concludes that Olive Crow, one of the jurors who was sworn and subscribed to the verdict in this matter, is and was at the time of jury selection ... and at the time of trial ... a convicted felon having been convicted by the Circuit Court of Randolph County for the felony offense of embezzlement.
Second, the Court finds that no agents, servants or employees of the defendant, Dan’s Marine Service, Inc., including Dan Williams, appeared at jury selection, but that only counsel for the defendant appeared at jury selection.
Third, the Court finds that the juror, Olive Crow, on the initial juror qualification form marked that she had not ever been convicted of perjury, false swearing or any other infamous offense. The Court finds that such response on the juror qualification form was false.
Fourth, at the time of the general swearing of the jury, the Court went through each question on the juror qualification form, and specifically explained that the term “infamous offense” meant a felony. The Court inquired of the jury panel whether any of them had been so convicted. At that time, the juror Olive Crow either failed to answer or did not admit that she had been convicted of a felony. Therefore, the Court finds that she answered the Court’s questions falsely.
Fifth, the Court finds and concludes that at the time of trial, Olive Crow was, in fact, disqualified from sitting on the jury in this case, or on any other jury in a civil case in West Virginia, in light of the statutory disqualification provided under West Virginia Code 52 — 1—8(d)(6) [sic].
Sixth, the Court finds based upon the testimony of witnesses who have appeared at the post verdict hearings in this matter, specifically the testimony of Dan Williams, that the defendant did not have knowledge of Olive Crow’s felony conviction and consequent disqualification until the day after the trial in this matter.
Seventh ... the Court is of the opinion that such disqualification and false concealment by the juror is not in and of itself a sufficient basis to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial. Instead, the Court is of the opinion that under the current law the defendant must separately demonstrate actual prejudice....
Eighth, the Court finds and concludes that ... the defendant has not otherwise shown substantial prejudice.

Dan’s Marine Service now appeals this order.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court has held:

Although the ruling of a trial court in granting or denying a motion for a new trial is entitled to great respect and weight, the trial court’s ruling will be reversed on appeal when it is clear that the trial court has acted under some misapprehension of the law or the evidence.

Syllabus Point 4, Sanders v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 159 W.Va. 621, 225 S.E.2d 218 (1976). Recently, we noted that in reviewing an order denying a new trial, we review “the circuit court’s final order and ultimate disposition under an abuse of discretion standard. We review challenges to findings of fact under a clearly erroneous standard; conclusions of law are reviewed de novo.” Gum v. Dudley, 202 W.Va. 477, 482, 505 S.E.2d 391, 396 (1997) quoting Syllabus Point 4, Burgess v. Porterfield, 196 W.Va. 178, 469 S.E.2d 114 (1996). With these standards in mind, we now turn to the issue before us.

III.

DISCUSSION

The appellant’s position is that a verdict should be set aside and a new trial granted without any additional specific showing of prejudice when it is discovered that a juror is a convicted felon and lied to conceal the conviction. In support, the appellant argues, first, that our system of jurisprudence vests [502]*502so much trust and confidence in the jury that any substantial irregularity in the impaneling of the jury must require setting aside the verdict. Two, because of the constraints on investigating the deliberative process of juries, it is doubtful that a specific showing of prejudice could ever be made. Three, the guarantee of a trial by jury in Article III, Section 13 of the West Virginia Constitution presumably means six qualified jurors. Finally, cases in other jurisdictions clearly hold that when a disqualified juror lies to conceal the disqualification and subscribes to the verdict, a new trial is required.

In response, the appellee points to State v. Bongalis, 180 W.Va. 584, 378 S.E.2d 449 (1989), on which the circuit court based its ruling, which states the traditional West Virginia rule that before juror disqualification merits a new trial, it must appear that the complainant suffered injustice by reason of the disqualification.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
558 S.E.2d 298, 210 W. Va. 498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/proudfoot-v-dans-marine-service-inc-wva-2002.