Turner v. Hastings

69 A.3d 1015, 432 Md. 499, 2013 WL 3186500, 2013 Md. LEXIS 373
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 25, 2013
DocketNo. 66
StatusPublished

This text of 69 A.3d 1015 (Turner v. Hastings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Hastings, 69 A.3d 1015, 432 Md. 499, 2013 WL 3186500, 2013 Md. LEXIS 373 (Md. 2013).

Opinion

ADKINS, J.

This case calls for us to explore the interplay between accepting a jury verdict and revising that verdict after the jury is dismissed, as well as, what to do when a verdict appears on its face to have internal inconsistencies. We hold that, for a jury verdict to be properly returned in open court, it must be orally announced, hearkened to by the jury, and subject to an opportunity to poll. Once these requirements are met, the verdict is then taken from the jury and, upon the entering of a judgment, becomes subject to a judge’s revisory powers. Though in some instances revisory powers can be quite broad, they are much more limited when it comes to changing a jury verdict. Because a judge is forbidden from encroaching on the jury’s fact-finding province, his discretion to revise a jury verdict pursuant to Maryland Rule 2-535 is permissible only to effectuate the true intent of the jury.

[502]*502FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 4, 2008, Catherine Turner was employed as a professional taxi cab driver in Ocean City, Maryland. On that night she was making a left-hand turn at a stop light where she had a green arrow allowing her to proceed. At that same time, Direse Hastings was operating a motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Hastings ran a red light, striking the taxi cab operated by Turner.

Turner filed suit in Worcester County, and the case went to trial on September 27, 2010, based on theories of negligence and assault. Before beginning deliberations, the jury was given two verdict sheets — one for the negligence count and one for the assault count. The verdict sheet submitted for the negligence count contained four questions and is reproduced below:

1. Has it been proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendant, Direse Helen Hastings, was negligent?

_YES _NO
IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “NO” TO QUESTION NO. 1, PLEASE TERMINATE YOUR DELIBERATIONS AND NOTIFY THE BAILIFF. IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “YES” TO QUESTION NO. 1, PLEASE RESPOND TO QUESTION NO. 2.

2. Has it been proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Plaintiff, Catherine Lynn Turner, was negligent in the operation of her motor vehicle and that such negligence on her part proximately caused or contributed to the motor vehicle accident referred to in the evidence?

__YES _NO
IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “YES” TO QUESTION NO. 2, PLEASE TERMINATE YOUR DELIBERATIONS AND NOTIFY THE BAILIFF. IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “YES” TO QUESTION NO. 1 AND IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “NO” TO QUESTION NO. 2, PLEASE ANSWER QUESTION NO. 3.

[503]*5033. Has it been proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Catherine Lynn Turner sustained injuries as a result of the motor vehicle accident referred to in the evidence?

_YES _NO
IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “NO” TO QUESTION NO. 3, PLEASE TERMINATE YOUR DELIBERATIONS AND NOTIFY THE BAILIFF. IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED “YES” TO QUESTION NO. 3, PLEASE ANSWER QUESTION NO. 4.

4. What damages has the Plaintiff proven by a preponderance of the evidence?

a. Medical expenses incurred in the past: $
b. Loss of income reasonably probable to have been incurred in the past: $
c. Non-economic damages including pain and suffering: $
d. Property damage to the taxi cab: $

Upon reaching a verdict, the jury came back into the courtroom, the court clerk read the questions of the verdict sheet aloud from a blank copy, and the jury foreman answered using the completed copy. Apparently, before doing this, no one examined the full verdict sheet as completed by the jury. When the clerk asked the jury about Question 1, the foreman answered ‘Yes”: Hastings was negligent. In response to Question 2, the foreman answered “No”: Turner was not negligent. In response to Question 3, the foreman answered “No”: Turner had not sustained injuries. Following the instructions on the verdict sheet, the clerk then stopped at Question 3 and did not ask Question 4. Moving to the second verdict sheet, she then asked whether Hastings had committed an assault, to which the foreman answered “No.” The clerk then hearkened the jury to its verdict, rereading the first three questions on the negligence verdict sheet, the single question on the assault verdict sheet, and the jury foreman’s answers to them, to which all jurors answered in the affirmative. The Court then dismissed the jury.

[504]*504It was not until after the jury was dismissed that the judge received the jury’s completed copy of the verdict sheet. Upon reviewing the verdict sheet, the judge discovered that the jury had gone on to answer Question 4 of the negligence count, which was filled in as follows:

a. Medical expenses incurred in the past: $325.00
b. Loss of income reasonably probable to have been incurred in the past: $18,000
c. Non-economie damages including pain and suffering: $0
d. Property damage to the taxi cab: $2,820

The judge then brought the parties back on the record to hear arguments about how to proceed. He ultimately found that “[t]here is no question” that the jury intended to award damages and, therefore, enrolled the verdict sheet as the jury’s verdict, awarding the damages as shown on the verdict sheet to Turner. The Court of Special Appeals, in a reported opinion, vacated the award. See Hastings v. Turner, 205 Md.App. 413, 45 A.3d 835 (2012).

On September 21, 2012, this Court granted a writ of certiorari, Turner v. Hastings, 428 Md. 543, 52 A.3d 978 (2012), to answer the following questions:

1. Did the Court of Special Appeals improperly deny your Petitioner damages, that is a monetary award, only because the portion of the jury’s verdict that awarded damages had not been announced in open court?
2. Did the Circuit Court have the power to correct what it saw as an inconsistent verdict?

We hold that the trial judge properly exercised his discretion to revise the verdict, in effectuating the intent of the jury, by including the award of damages as shown on the verdict sheet.

DISCUSSION

The issues presented call for us to delve into the delicate area of jury verdicts. This topic can quickly cause uneasiness [505]*505for judges, lawyers, and litigants. The jury’s verdict is the essence of the American legal system — a role which judges should not usurp except in the most limited circumstances. In this case we explore the nature and extent of the judge’s discretion to revise a jury verdict, a foray that requires considering whether a jury’s verdict that has internal inconsistencies can stand. We address these issues below.

Revising a Jury Verdict to Include Damages on the Verdict Sheet

The issue of whether the jury’s verdict may be revised by the trial judge to include an award of damages contained on the verdict sheet — but not read aloud in open court — implicates two Maryland Rules: 2-522 (Court Decision — Jury Verdict) and 2-535 (Revisory Power).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 A.3d 1015, 432 Md. 499, 2013 WL 3186500, 2013 Md. LEXIS 373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-hastings-md-2013.