Simmons First National Bank v. Ford Motor Co.

88 F.R.D. 344, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 970, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15124
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedDecember 4, 1980
DocketNo. PB-C-79-181
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 88 F.R.D. 344 (Simmons First National Bank v. Ford Motor Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simmons First National Bank v. Ford Motor Co., 88 F.R.D. 344, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 970, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15124 (E.D. Ark. 1980).

Opinion

ORDER

WOODS, District Judge.

Plaintiff has filed a Motion for New Trial based on the affidavits of two jurors as to matters occurring in the jury room. The principal contention is that one of the jurors coerced and harassed the other jurors into agreeing with her. These affidavits are clearly inadmissible under Rule 606(b), Federal Rules of Evidence, reading as follows:

Inquiry into validity of verdict or indictment. Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury’s deliberations or to the effect of anything upon his or any other juror’s mind or emotions as influencing him to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning his mental processes in connection therewith, except that a juror may testify on the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury’s attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror. Nor may his affidavit or evidence of any statement by him concerning a matter about which he would be precluded from testifying be received for these purposes.

In the interests of ensuring candid exchange of juror views, Rule 606(b) continues the rule that post-verdict inquiry of jurors as to their thoughts or feelings, even if confused or improper is not permitted. In United States v. Duzac, 622 F.2d 911 (5th Cir. 1980), a police officer was tried on a charge of lying to the grand jury. During deliberations, the trial jury sent a note to the judge, stating that “certain prejudices due to prior personal experiences” of some of the jurors prevented a unanimous decision. The judge admonished the jury to make its decision solely on the basis of the evidence and the defendant was convicted. The Court of Appeals upheld the denial of the motion for an evidentiary inquiry into the verdict or for a mistrial. Under Rule 606(b), such inquiries that seek to probe the mental processes or emotions of the jurors are impermissible. The jurors’ own prejudices or experiences do not constitute external influences under the Rule. These should have been explored during the selection of the jury. At 913-14. See also, United States v. Jelsma, 630 F.2d 778 (CA 10th, 1980) (operating gambling business of five or more persons; held, Rule 606(b) precludes judicial inquiry into jury confusion as to number of persons involved in the gambling scheme).

As pointed out in the comment to this rule, testimony or affidavits of jurors have been held incompetent to show a compromise verdict, Hyde v. United States, 225 U.S. 347, 382, 32 S.Ct. 793, 807-808, 56 [346]*346L.Ed. 1114 (1912); a quotient verdict, McDonald v. Pless, 238 U.S. 264, 35 S.Ct. 783, 59 L.Ed. 1300 (1915); speculation as to insurance coverage, Holden v. Porter, 405 F.2d 878 (10th Cir. 1969), Farmers Co-op. Elev. Ass’n v. Strand, 382 F.2d 224, 230 (8th Cir. 1967), cert. denied 389 U.S. 1014, 88 S.Ct. 589, 19 L.Ed.2d 659; misinterpretations of instructions, Farmers Co-op. Elev. Ass’n v. Strand, supra; mistake in returning verdict, United States v. Chereton, 309 F.2d 197 (6th Cir. 1962); interpretation of guilty plea by the defendant as implicating others, United States v. Grosby, 294 F.2d 928, 949 (2d Cir. 1961).

In the Eighth Circuit decision cited supra, it was said:

The items set out in the juror’s affidavit all related to matters which took place in the jury room and which inhere in the verdict. It is a well-established rule in the federal courts and the Nebraska court that a jury verdict may not be impeached as to occurrences in the jury room which inhere in the verdict by an affidavit of a juror. McDonald v. Pless, 238 U.S. 264, 35 S.Ct. 783, 59 L.Ed. 1300; Stephenson v. Steinhauer, 8 Cir., 188 F.2d 432, 439; United States v. Kansas City, Mo., 8 Cir., 157 F.2d 459, 460. (382 F.2d 224, 230)

In a recent Eighth Circuit decision, United States v. Bohr, 581 F.2d 1294 (8th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 958, 99 S.Ct. 361, 58 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978), the jury foreman submitted a notarized statement indicating that in addition to being employed by General Motors, he was a farmer with about $130,000 invested in his farm. This information was not provided to the parties by the clerk prior to trial. The prosecuting witness was a farmer, and defendant contended that had he known of the foreman’s farm investments, he would have exercised a peremptory challenge as to him. “If Bohr’s motion can be taken as a suggestion of improper influence on the jury, the affidavit is not competent evidence to support such an allegation. Under Rule 606(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence a juror may not testify as to ‘the effect of anything upon his or any other juror’s mind or emotions as influencing him to assent to or dissent from the verdict ... or concerning his mental processes in connection therewith ....’” Id. at 1302, footnote 11.

In another case the Eighth Circuit stated: “Although the issue has not been raised by the parties, the affidavit as to the extrajudicial statements made by juror Swaney may well have been inadmissible under the nonimpeachment rule of Fed.R.Evid. 606(b). In the application of that rule, we recently held in United States v. Eagle, 539 F.2d 1166, 1169-71 (8th Cir. 1976), that the verdict of a jury may not be impeached by evidence of the thought processes and undisclosed subjective prejudices of individual jurors who concurred in the verdict.” Poches v. J. J. Newberry Co., 549 F.2d 1166, 1169 (8th Cir. 1977).

In an Iowa case, a juror testified as to the antics of another juror who strutted as a minstrel and used black dialect because defendant and his counsel were black. The testimony was held to be inadmissible. Smith v. Brewer, 444 F.Supp. 482 (S.D.Iowa1978), aff’d 577 F.2d 466 (8th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 457, 58 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978). See also United States v. Gambina, 564 F.2d 22, 24 (8th Cir. 1977). “Fed.R.Evid. 606

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88 F.R.D. 344, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 970, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simmons-first-national-bank-v-ford-motor-co-ared-1980.