Steele v. Evenflo Co., Inc.

147 S.W.3d 781, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1192, 2004 WL 1878447
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 24, 2004
DocketED 82315
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 147 S.W.3d 781 (Steele v. Evenflo Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steele v. Evenflo Co., Inc., 147 S.W.3d 781, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1192, 2004 WL 1878447 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

PATRICIA L. COHEN, Judge.

Damon Steele (“Plaintiff’), as next friend and father of Denver John Steele (“D.J.”), appeals from the trial court’s order granting Defendants Evenflo Compa[784]*784ny, Inc. and Spalding Sports Worldwide (“Defendants”) Motion for New Tidal.1 Concluding that the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction when it relied wholly on grounds not specifically asserted in Defendants’ Motion for New Trial, we reverse. We have also considered the grounds relied on by the trial court, as well as alternative grounds asserted by Defendants, and find no support for the grant of a new trial.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff sued Defendants for injuries that D.J., who was a toddler at the time, sustained as the result of an Evenflo child booster seat which failed in the course of an automobile accident. D.J. was paralyzed from the chest down and suffered other serious injuries. The petition included a claim for punitive damages and Plaintiff adduced evidence on this issue at trial. However, prior to the instruction conference, Plaintiff withdrew his claim for punitive damages. Neither party requested any withdrawal or limiting instruction regarding the Plaintiffs claim for punitive damages. The trial court did not instruct on punitive damages and neither party mentioned punitive damages in closing argument.

Following deliberations, the jury attempted to return a verdict in favor of Plaintiff in the amount of eight and a half million dollars. On the verdict form, the jurors handwrote underneath the words “8.5 million,” the following: “4.5 damages, 4 punitive.” After an extended discussion with counsel in which Plaintiff urged the trial court to accept the entire verdict of eight and a half million dollar’s and Defendants urged the trial court to accept a verdict in the amount of four and a half million dollars, the trial court refused to accept the first verdict.

Following an additional lengthy discussion with counsel, the trial court read an instruction which advised the jury, as follows:

The Court advises that you are not to consider the issue of punitive damages with respect to either defendant during your deliberations. In your verdict, you must award plaintiff such sum as you believe will fairly and justly compensate D.J. Steele for any damages you believe he sustained and is reasonably certain to sustain in the future as a direct result of the occurrence mentioned in the evidence.

Neither party objected to the wording of the instruction, although both parties argued that an additional instruction was unnecessary, the jury’s intent was clear and the first verdict should be accepted. Following the reading of the instruction, the trial court provided the jury with a written version and ordered the jury to resume their deliberations. Shortly thereafter, the jury returned a second verdict in the amount of eight and a half million dollars. Neither party objected to acceptance of the second verdict. Accordingly, the trial court accepted the second verdict, polled and discharged the jury.

Defendants filed a Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, or in the Alternative, for New Trial. In the Motion for J.N.O.V., Defendants raised thirty-nine separate points. Points one through thirty-one challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to support the submission of strict liability (design defect), negligent design, strict liability (failure to warn), negligent failure to warn and negligence per se. [785]*785Defendants asserted in points thirty-two through thirty-six that the trial court erred in rejecting the first verdict and should have entered judgment for four and a half million dollars. Finally, points thirty-seven through thirty-nine alleged that the trial court erred when it denied Defendants’ Motions for Directed Verdict. After a careful analysis, the trial court rejected each of Defendants’ grounds and denied the Motion for J.N.O.V.

The trial court next addressed Defendants’ Motion for New Trial. Defendants asserted the following grounds in support of their Motion for New Trial: (1) juror nondisclosure, (2) inflammatory comment about defendant Mullins during closing argument, (3) improper admission of evidence of similar incidents, (4) improper admission of the Koziatek affidavit, (5) failure to grant Defendants’ Motion for Directed Verdict as to liability, (6) failure to grant Defendants’ Motion for Directed Verdict with respect to punitive damages, (7) error in giving the Plaintiffs verdict-directing instructions, (8) verdict was against the weight of the evidence, and (9) cumulative effect of the trial errors outlined above.

The trial court considered each asserted ground. On the question of juror nondisclosure, the trial court held that the alleged nondisclosure was unintentional and caused no prejudice. With respect to the evidence of “similar incidents” and the Ko-ziatek affidavit, the trial court declined to reconsider its trial rulings and again rejected Defendants’ arguments. In addition, the trial court found no error with respect to the denial of the Motions for Directed Verdict on liability or punitive damages. Likewise, the trial court found no error with respect to the verdict-directing instructions. Finally, the trial court concluded that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence.

After rejecting each of the asserted substantive grounds of trial error, the trial court considered Defendants’ last point: cumulative error. In its Motion for New Trial, Defendants asserted that they were entitled to a new trial “due to the numerous errors as outlined above in Defendants’ Motion for New Trial and the Suggestions in Support of Defendants’ Motion for New Trial.” Defendants described the “numerous errors” which, they asserted, constituted cumulative error as follows:

... admission of highly prejudicial, irrelevant, unreliable, and inadmissible evidence and testimony, juror nondisclosure, and inflammatory and unwarranted closing argument. Each of the enumerated evidentiary errors is sufficient, by itself, to entitled (sic) defendants to a new trial. Furthermore, the combination of these deviations, irregularities, mistakes, and errors constitutes an additional independent justification for a new trial in matter. The cumulative effect of these errors irreparably prejudiced defendants and prevented defendants from receiving a fair trial. Therefore, defendants are entitled to a new trial based on the cumulative errors, (citation omitted).

After flatly rejecting each individual error in Defendants’ fist of “numerous errors,” the trial court granted the Motion for New Trial.

The trial court granted the Motion for New Trial because it was “persuaded that it erred in its handling of the jury’s two verdicts .... ” More specifically, in its lengthy Order Ruling on Defendant’s Post-Trial Motions (“Order”) the trial court concluded that its errors included: (1) “the Court gave the jury no indication that this issue [of punitive damages] had been removed from the cáse,” (2) “the Court had an obligation to determine the intent of the jury — what did the jurors [786]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
147 S.W.3d 781, 2004 Mo. App. LEXIS 1192, 2004 WL 1878447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steele-v-evenflo-co-inc-moctapp-2004.