Williams v. Bridges

35 P.2d 407, 140 Cal. App. 537, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 588
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 31, 1934
DocketCiv. No. 9249
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 35 P.2d 407 (Williams v. Bridges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Bridges, 35 P.2d 407, 140 Cal. App. 537, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 588 (Cal. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

STURTEVANT, J.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and from the judgment entered thereon the defendant has appealed. /

In his first point he claims that his motion for a new trial should have been granted because the juror, Miss Vina Lewis, who had witnessed the accident and had formed and held an opinion that the defendant was liable, on her voir dire examination falsely denied having any knowledge of the accident, her answers were believed, she was sworn as a juror, and thereafter with eight other jurors, nine in all, brought in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. In support of the point the defendant quotes the voir dire examination of the juror. In part it is as follows:

“Q. You understand that you are to judge this case solely from the facts presented from the witness stand ? A. Yes. Q. And that the court will instruct you in the law and you are to follow the instructions given to you by the court as to the law; will you do this? A. Yes. Q. After the testimony in this case has been submitted to you and the instructions have been read to you by the court, do you feel free to, yourself make your own judgment on the case? A. I do. Q. Would you allow any ulterior motive or anything else to influence you in your judgment ? A. No. Q. Do you know of any reason whatsoever why you could not sit as a fair and impartial juror in this case? A. No. . . . Q. And you know nothing about the facts of this case? A. Absolutely nothing. . . . Q. You understand the defendant has the same right to come in and defend the case as the plaintiff has to bring the case in the first instance, and so you will enter upon this case with an open mind as you would like to have twelve jurors come here and hear the case and decide the facts, if you were one of the parties? A. Yes.” He then quotes from the reporter’s transcript showing that after the jury had brought in its verdict the jurors were polled and in reply to the questions put by the clerk Miss Vina Lewis and eight others stated that it was their verdict. Three other jurors, including Mary Oaks, stated that it was not. Thereafter the defendant made a motion for a new trial on all of the statutory grounds. In support of his motion he introduced the entire voir dire examination [539]*539of the juror Vina Lewis. He also introduced the affidavit of E. L. Edwards and the affidavit of Ethel Cashel, both of whom had acted as jurors and voted for the verdict. He also introduced the affidavit of Charles R. Stone and the affidavit of the defendant H. A. Bridges. The verdict was returned on March 30, 1933. The affidavits of those who had acted as jurors recited facts that transpired in the jury room. The affidavit of Charles R. Stone recited a conversation he held with Vina Lewis on the eleventh day of April, 1933. The affidavit of H. A. Bridges recites that he is the defendant; that the trial commenced March 27, 1933, and terminated March 30, 1933; that Vina Lewis acted as a juror; that prior to the time she was accepted as a juror he was not acquainted with her, had never seen her, and knew nothing about her qualifications to act as a juror; that he did not know at the time she was called as a juror that she knew anything about the merits of the ease on trial; that he accepted her as a juror acting solely on her statements made on her voir dire examination. Continuing he alleges that he knew nothing to the contrary until six days after the verdict was rendered. Mr. Rankin, the attorney for the defendant, presented his affidavit alleging, among other things, that he knew nothing about the qualification of Vina Lewis; that he did not know her, and as defendant’s counsel accepted her as a juror acting solely on the statements made by the juror upon her voir dire examination. The defendant also introduced the affidavit made by the juror Mary Oaks, in 'which she deposed as follows:
“That she resides in the County of Santa Clara, State of California;
“That she was one of the members of the jury that tried the above entitled case in the above entitled court; that said jury rendered a verdict therein on March 30th, 1933, in favor of the plaintiff; that said jury stood nine for the verdict and three against it; that one of the jurors in said jury was a Miss Vina Lewis; that said Miss Vina Lewis voted in favor of the plaintiff; that after said jury was instructed by the judge in the above entitled court, the jury adjourned to the jury room for deliberation; that during such deliberation said Vina Lewis stated in the presence of affiant and the other jurors that she, the said Vina Lewis, knew about the accident out of -which said case arose, as [540]*540she had passed the place on South First Street where the accident occurred prior to or at the time of said accident, and that she had noticed that the fence was flimsily constructed and was not surprised that it fell because it was so poorly constructed.” The plaintiff offered no affidavits or evidence of any kind.

The defendant earnestly claims that his motion should have been granted because, as he asserts, it was fully supported by the facts and came within the provisions of both division 1 and division 2 of section 657 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The plaintiff replies that it is settled law that the affidavits of jurors will not be-received to impeach their verdict except where the verdict is reached by resort to the determination of chance. (20 Cal. Jur. 61.) That reply is quite sufficient as to words or acts inherent in the verdict and which had their origin after the impanelment, and before the discharge of the jury. The authorities cited by the plaintiff all fall within that class. No one of them rested on facts, as presented in the instant case, which had their origin before the impanelment, and continued until the discharge of the jury. The rule seems to be general that, “It is ground for new trial that a juror had personal knowledge of material facts in the case, had formed and expressed an opinion on the case ... if such ground of objection was denied or concealed by the juror on proper inquiry on his voir dire examination ...” (46 C. J. 92; Lane v. Vaselius, 137 Misc. 756 [244 N. Y. Supp. 585, 586]; Kelley v. Adams County, 113 Neb. 377 [203 N. W. 544]; Rhoades v. El Paso & S. W. Ry. Co., (Tex. Com. App.) 248 S. W. 1064, 1066; Harding v. Fidelity & Casualty Co., (Mo. App.) 27 S. W. (2d) 778.) We do not understand the plaintiff to contend to the contrary. However, she does challenge the proof that was offered by the defendant as being competent and she relies on the cases cited in 20 California Jurisprudence, 61. But no one of those cases involved a false answer made on the juror’s voir dire examination. That distinction is very material. However, there are California cases in which it was claimed that a juror had intentionally made a false answer on his voir dire examination. The last one we have found is People v. Galloway, 202 Cal. 81 [259 Pac. 332]. That case rested on the provisions of the Penal Code, sections 1179-1182. Those [541]*541sections are not as broad as the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. Nevertheless the court held that the affidavits of jurors which purported to state relevant evidence were competent and should have been received. The rules of evidence are the same in both civil and criminal actions. (Pen. Code, sec. 1102.) In Sherwin v. Southern Pac. Co., 168 Cal. 722, at page 725 [145 Pac.

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Bluebook (online)
35 P.2d 407, 140 Cal. App. 537, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-bridges-calctapp-1934.