Rivera v. Todo Bayamon

174 F.R.D. 247, 1997 WL 483293
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 31, 1997
DocketCiv. No. 93-2123 (DRD)
StatusPublished

This text of 174 F.R.D. 247 (Rivera v. Todo Bayamon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rivera v. Todo Bayamon, 174 F.R.D. 247, 1997 WL 483293 (prd 1997).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DOMINGUEZ, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Pending before this court is Defendants’ Motion Requesting Mistrial. (Docket No. 148.) Defendants argue that Plaintiff Rosa Rivera’s emotional outburst at the end of closing arguments had an unreasonably prejudicial effect on the jury and, thus, the court should grant a mistrial. Secondarily, Defendants argue that the court erred in failing to charge an instruction cautioning the jury against the undue prejudice that could stem from Plaintiffs’ conduct. Plaintiffs opposed the motion, (Docket No. 155), arguing that there is no evidence showing that the jury produced a verdict moved by passion, prejudice nor sympathy generated by the incident. Further, Plaintiffs argue that Defendants waived their objection as to the lack of jury instructions since they failed to object prior to the jury’s deliberation.

The court finds that the incident improperly influenced the jury. Therefore, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a)(1), the court grants Defendants’ timely motion and orders a new trial.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND On February 27, 1997, the jury heard the parties’ closing arguments in this case and the court ordered a recess until the following morning, when the court was to provide jury instructions and deliberations were due to begin. As the jury was exiting the epurt-room, immediately after Defendants’ counsel had ended closing arguments, Plaintiff Rosa Rivera suffered a panic attack, during which she began to scream loudly and then collapsed.1 This attack is attributed to a condition from which she suffers and is basis for her ADA claim before the court.

Immediately after this incident, the court in chambers and on the record interrogated Marshall, Security Officer, Jesus M. Coriano, who swore under oath that the last juror saw the outburst. He stated that he was not sure about how many jurors had left the courtroom or had gone beyond the courtroom door. “I’m not sure about that. I was holding the door when the last one passed and I heard the noise. I asked what is that____ The last [juror] said the lady fell down.” Transcript of Proceedings, Feb. 26, 1997, at 2. See Ex. 1. When asked if the other jurors were close to him, C.S.O. Coriano replied: “Very close. When I heard the noise, I start [sic] pushing the people, the jurors [into the jury room].” Id. And he added: “If I may. They were making comments inside the jury room about the incident.” Id. at 3.

Because the yelling of Plaintiff Rivera was of high pitch, loud and continued to be constant, the court requested the marshall to evacuate the jury from the jury room, located directly behind the bench, in order to avoid as much as possible further tainting of the jury.

In camera, Defendants’ attorney immediately requested a mistrial. The court determined that the request was premature. Notwithstanding, the court believes that the incident had an undue prejudicial influence on the jury, not curable by any instructions.

On March 13,1997, Defendants timely filed the motion object of this order.

III. STANDARD AND ANALYSIS

A. Emotional Outburst as Grounds for Mistrial

A district court may grant a new trial, “in an action in which there has been a trial by [249]*249jury, for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law in the courts of the United States.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a)(1).

Courts should closely scrutinize the potential prejudicial effects upon the jury of a party’s voluntary or involuntary “emotional demonstrations” during trial. Price v. H.B. Green Transportation Line, 287 F.2d 363, 365 (7th Cir.1961). The trial judge may consider whether or not a mistrial should be granted on this basis. Id. The consideration of this matter “is peculiarly within the discretion of the trial judge for he is in a better position ... to asses the potentially prejudicial impact of such conduct by parties, witnesses and counsel.” Malandris v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 703 F.2d 1152, 1178 (10th Cir.1981) (citations omitted). “It must be presumed that [the trial judge] was in the best position to discover whether the plaintiffs conduct had such an effect upon the jury that the trial could not continue on a fair basis.” Id. at 1179 (quoting Franklin v. Shelton, 250 F.2d 92, 99 (10th Cir.1957)). See generally Chakrabarti v. Cohen, 31 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1994) (holding that trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering new trial based on the belief that fairness required a fresh start).

In the Malandris ease, the plaintiff began to cry and scream during redirect examination before the jury. Immediately, the defendant’s attorney requested a mistrial, which the court denied. Subsequently, the defendant’s attorney moved again for a new trial, using the plaintiffs emotional outburst as grounds. The court denied the motion again, stating, inter alia, that “[t]he intervening day of testimony and weekend between the [plaintiffl’s conduct and closing arguments and submission to the jury must be considered in evaluating any effect of this unfortunate incident on the jury’s deliberation.” Malandris v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 703 F.2d at 1178. In addition, the trial court found that the emotional outburst had been a genuine human response consistent with the plaintiffs condition as described in the testimony of two psychiatrists. Id. at 1179. The defendants appealed the ruling.

The circuit court concluded that the trial court had not abused its discretion in denying the motion for mistrial and stated that “the conduct of a party in weeping or crying in the courtroom does not necessarily justify a new trial, where it does not clearly appear that such conduct improperly influenced the jury.” Id. (quoting Franklin v. Shelton, 250 F.2d at 99:) (emphasis added). See also 12 James W. Moore, Federal Practice § 59.22[5] (3d ed. 1997) (stating that a motion for a new trial may be granted if a party’s conduct is unduly prejudicial).

In the present case, the court does not harbor any doubts that Plaintiffs panic attack was genuine.2 However, the attack’s genuineness becomes irrelevant given that her intense outburst and collapse on the floor was the last occurrence in the trial which the jury witnessed before deliberation. The timing was particularly unfortunate since counsel for the defense had just finished final arguments, stressing particular inconsistencies in Plaintiff Rivera’s testimony.

Having observed the incident, the court finds that the outburst was so intense and at such a momentous and pivotal time in the trial that it had a prejudicial effect on the jury, compromising the trial’s fairness not curable by any instruction.3 For this reason, the court concludes that a new trial is warranted.

B. Jury Instructions

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174 F.R.D. 247, 1997 WL 483293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rivera-v-todo-bayamon-prd-1997.