JOE JUAREZ, Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent; SQUARE DEAL MACHINE COMPANY, INC., Real Party in Interest.
L.A. No. 31483
Supreme Court of California
July 1, 1982
31 Cal. 3d 759
Greene, O‘Reilly, Agnew & Broillet, Timothy J. Wheeler and Bruce Brusavich for Petitioner.
No appearance for Respondent.
Hast & Sabatasse, Patrick J. Hast and Gary Soter for Real Party in Interest.
OPINION
MOSK, J.—In this personal injury action, where the principles of comparative negligence apply and the votes of only nine jurors are necessary to reach a verdict (
Joe Juarez was injured while operating a lathe supplied to his employer by Square Deal Machine Company, Inc. (Square Deal). He sued Square Deal, seeking damages on theories of strict liability and negligence. The matter was submitted to the jury on special verdicts. (
| JUROR NUMBER (Y=yes; N=no) | ||||||||||||
| Special Verdict | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | 9. | 10. | 11. | 12. |
| 1. Was there a defect in the design of the product involved? | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N |
| 5. Was defendant negligent? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| 6. Was defendant‘s negligence a proximate cause? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| 7. Was plaintiff negligent? | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y |
| 8. Was plaintiff‘s negligence a proximate cause? | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y |
| 10. Was plaintiff‘s employer‘s negligence a proximate cause? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 11. What is amount of plaintiff‘s damages? ANSWER: $47,865 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y |
| 12. Apportionment: Plaintiff—25% Plaintiff‘s employer—30% Defendant—45% | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y |
Upon observing that the same nine jurors had not agreed on both the existence of liability and the apportionment of damages, the parties declined to waive any defect in the verdicts and the court asked the jury to deliberate further. The next day the jury was again polled. Nine identical jurors agreed on questions 5 through 11, relating to negligence, proximate cause, and total damages. Although nine jurors also agreed on apportionment of damages, they were not the same nine who had agreed on questions 5 through 11. Following additional deliberations on November 10, the jurors unanimously reported that further
On February 10, 1981, Juarez moved for reconsideration of the mistrial order and for entry of judgment on the special verdicts of November 6. At the same time he sought relief from the statutory 10-day limit for filing his motion for reconsideration. (
I.
Juarez contends that the special verdicts returned on November 6 were sufficient to determine all the factual issues necessary for the entry of judgment. Square Deal counters with the argument that mandate should not issue here because (1) the failure of nine identical jurors to agree on all material special verdicts rendered the verdicts legally insufficient; (2) any error in granting the mistrial was waived by Juarez’ failure to request that judgment be entered on the special verdicts within 10 days of the November 10 mistrial ruling; and (3) mandate is an inappropriate remedy to compel the trial court to reverse its discretionary action in refusing to vacate its mistrial order.
The latter two arguments are clearly without merit. Square Deal cites no authority requiring a party to request that the court enter judgment on a valid jury verdict in order for that party to have the benefit of the verdict. Although we have held that failure to object to a defective jury verdict before a jury is discharged prevents a party from relying on that defect to overturn the verdict (see Henrioulle v. Marin Ventures, Inc. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 512, 521-522), there is no logical reason to require an objection to a court‘s failure to enter judgment on a valid verdict. The obvious purpose for requiring an objection to a defective verdict before a jury is discharged is to provide it an opportunity to cure the defect by further deliberation. (
With respect to the appropriateness of relief by writ, it is evident that no appeal lies from an order granting a mistrial. (
II.
We reach the crucial issue on the merits, i.e., whether nine identical jurors must agree both on the determination of liability and on the ap
Prior to our adoption of comparative negligence in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, it was well settled that in a nonbifurcated trial nine identical jurors had to agree on all elements of the ultimate verdict. (Earl v. Times-Mirror Co. (1921) 185 Cal. 165, 182-186; Schoenbach v. Key System Transit Lines (1959) 168 Cal.App.2d 302, 305; Nelson v. Superior Court, supra, 26 Cal.App.2d 119, 123; Balero v. Littell (1932) 124 Cal.App. 190; 4 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1971) Trial, § 269, pp. 3077-3078.) However, we are aware of only two published opinions in this state dealing with the necessity of juror consistency as to special verdicts rendered in comparative negligence cases. (United Farm Workers of America v. Superior Court, supra, 111 Cal.App.3d 1009; Borns v. Butts (1979) 98 Cal.App.3d 208.)
In Borns, the jury returned four special verdicts. Although each verdict commanded nine votes, only seven jurors voted for all four. The opinion does not detail the voting patterns of each individual juror; but it appears that, as in the instant case, a juror who voted not to hold a party liable also provided the determinative vote apportioning damages to the same party. The trial court refused to declare a mistrial or require the jury to deliberate further. In a two-page opinion the Court of
By contrast, United Farm Workers declined to follow Borns after carefully analyzing and distinguishing each of its authorities, including Earl. In Earl, a divided court set aside the punitive damages portion of a verdict. Although nine jurors voted for $25,000 in compensatory damages and ten jurors voted for $5,000 in punitive damages, the court held the verdict defective because only seven jurors voted for both amounts. The United Farm Workers court distinguished Earl on the ground that in the case before it, all 12 jurors agreed on the total amount of damages. (111 Cal.App.3d at pp. 1014-1015.) The disagreement, as in the case at bar, was between the jurors who agreed on negligence and the jurors who agreed on apportionment.5 The court held that after nine identical jurors agree that a party is negligent and that his negligence has proximately caused the injuries complained of, subsequent special verdicts allocating fault to that party are valid if supported by the votes of any nine jurors. (Id. at p. 1021.) The court reasoned that such a rule protects the rights of the parties yet serves judicial efficiency by avoiding “time-consuming writs, mistrials, frustrating delays and confusion for the trial judge and jury.” (Ibid.) As an alternative ground for its holding, the court briefly observed that the asserted defect in the verdict had been waived. (Id. at pp. 1021-1022.)
Although the United Farm Workers court relied on authorities from other jurisdictions, we are convinced that it reached the correct result; those authorities have adopted a rule preferable to that of Borns. As the New Mexico Court of Appeal stated in interpreting a statute similar to
It is contended that the authorities relied on by United Farm Workers do not rescue the instant verdict because they require a juror‘s vote to be rationally consistent. A vote against fixing liability on a party, the argument continues, is logically inconsistent with a vote apportioning liability to the same party. However, once three-fourths of the jurors have found a party negligent, we see no reason why dissenting jurors cannot accept the majority‘s finding of such negligence and participate in apportioning liability in accordance with that premise.
A related contention is that a juror who has voted against liability will be unable to conscientiously address the apportionment issue. This argument implies that the dissenting juror will be reluctant to assign fault to a party whom he has voted to be free of negligence, thus resulting in a compromise or otherwise inappropriate verdict. Again, we are unpersuaded. Absent evidence to the contrary, we cannot assume that a juror will ignore his sworn duties. “It is more proper to assume that when a juror is outvoted on an issue (liability) he will accept the outcome and continue to deliberate with the other jurors honestly and conscientiously to decide the remaining issues.” (Ward v. Weekes (1969) 107 N.J. Super. 351 [258 A.2d 379, 381]; see also Forde v. Ames (1978) 93 Misc.2d 723 [401 N.Y.S.2d 965, 966-967].)
Therefore, we hold that if nine identical jurors agree that a party is negligent and that such negligence is the proximate cause of the other party‘s injuries, special verdicts apportioning damages are valid so long as they command the votes of any nine jurors. To hold otherwise would be to prohibit jurors who dissent on the question of a party‘s liability from participation in the important remaining issue of allocating responsibility among the parties, a result that would deny all parties the right to a jury of 12 persons deliberating on all issues. (
Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue as prayed.
Bird, C. J., Newman, J., and Broussard, J., concurred.
RICHARDSON, J.—I respectfully dissent.
I cannot agree with the reasoning of part II of the majority opinion, which dispenses with the necessity for consistency in the votes of jurors whose special verdicts determine the comparative negligence of two or more parties and apportion liability among them. As the majority acknowledges, the legal requirement that at least three-fourths of a jury must agree to a verdict in a civil case (see
In the present case, when the jury was polled on November 6, 1980, it became apparent that although each special verdict was supported by nine votes, two of the nine jurors who apportioned liability for petitioner‘s damages among petitioner, petitioner‘s employer and real party in interest (real party), had found either that real party had not been negligent at all or that petitioner had not been negligent at all. Thus, juror number 1, who found that plaintiff (petitioner) was not negligent, nonetheless attributed to plaintiff 25 percent of the liability for his damages. Similarly, juror number 7 attributed 45 percent of the liability for the damages to defendant (real party), although that juror specifically found that defendant was not negligent at all. In fact, only seven of the jurors ultimately assessing and apportioning damages among all three
The majority urges that the blatant inconsistency between a juror‘s factual finding that a party is not negligent, and his determination that such nonnegligent party is nonetheless liable to pay damages for the negligent infliction of injuries, need not be considered illogical if it can be assumed that a juror dissenting from a finding of liability will accept the majority‘s finding on that issue before proceeding to consider the apportionment of that liability among the parties. (Ante, p. 768.) What the majority does not suggest, however, is why such reasoning should be adopted in the context of a case decided upon special verdicts when it has never been applied to a case decided by general verdict in this state.
Nor does United Farm Workers of America v. Superior Court (1980) 111 Cal.App.3d 1009, provide persuasive support for the majority‘s holding. In United Farm Workers the Court of Appeal found error in the trial court‘s declaration of a mistrial for a defective verdict on alternative grounds. Procedurally, it relied upon Henrioulle v. Marin Ventures, Inc. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 512, 521, to conclude that defendant had waived any defect in the jury verdict by failing to object thereto and to request further deliberation thereon before the jury was discharged. (111 Cal.App.3d, at pp. 1021-1022.) However, it also addressed the merits of defendant‘s claim that the jury verdict was defective, declaring: “We decide that under the circumstances in this case it is not fatal to the verdict that the same nine jurors did not find both defendant and plaintiff negligent as long as nine jurors did so find, and that the award of damages was properly determined.” (Id., at p. 1021.)
The United Farm Workers’ court observed that the facts supporting a finding that one party is negligent may have no necessary bearing on a finding that another party is negligent. While that observation is undoubtedly correct, it has little bearing on the crucial issue before us. Although applying the generally acceptable principle that special ver
An examination of the jury poll in United Farm Workers, however, does reveal a logical inconsistency which the court did not analyze, and which would appear to violate the rationale of its decision. In that case, of the 11 jurors who attributed to plaintiff 90 percent of the responsibility for his $70,000 in damages, only 8 found that plaintiff‘s negligence was the proximate cause of any damages at all. (111 Cal.App.3d, at p. 1011.) It would seem contrary to the fundamental purpose of our comparative negligence system—a purpose which we have identified as being “to assign responsibility and liability for damage in direct proportion to the amount of negligence of each of the parties” (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, 829)—to sustain a verdict imposing 90 percent of liability on a party by counting the vote of a juror who has concluded either that such party was not negligent at all or that his negligence was not the proximate cause of any damages. In addition, of course, such inconsistent conclusions simply are not reasonable, and reason is the foundation upon which jury deliberation rests. (See Naumburg v. Wagner, supra, 81 N.M. 242, 243 [disqualifying any juror who is “guilty of irreconcilable inconsistencies or material contradictions when his votes on all issues are considered“].)
Nor does the requirement of consistency between a juror‘s findings of negligence, proximate cause, and damages, on the one hand, and liability for those damages, on the other, necessarily require, as the majority suggests (ante, p. 768), that only those jurors initially finding each of the parties liable may deliberate upon the apportionment of that liability among them. While the logical progression would normally appear to be from findings of actionable negligence to apportionment of liability therefor, it is apparent that a juror may change her or his mind on one or more special verdicts at any time before the jury verdict is rendered. That factor alone would appear to refute the wisdom of imposing
In my view, the jury instructions given here adequately guided the jurors in the appropriate procedure. Apparently without objection, the jury was instructed generally in accordance with BAJI No. 15.32 (1977 ed.) as follows: “Each of you should deliberate and vote on each issue to be decided. However, before you may return a verdict to the court, at least nine or more identical jurors must agree on the verdict in its final and complete form, so that each of those nine or more may be able to state truthfully that the verdict is his or hers.” It was also instructed more specifically in accordance with BAJI No. 15.50 (1977 ed.) that “nine or more identical jurors ... [must agree] upon each answer required by ... [the] directions on the special verdict form, so that each of those nine or more may be able to state truthfully that every answer is his or hers....” Nothing in the instructions purported to bar jurors from full participation in the deliberative process at any point before a final verdict was rendered.
Further, while the adoption of a rule abandoning the necessity of consistency in a juror‘s special verdicts in this context may expedite such trials, it is not likely to be less confusing to the jury, as the majority contends, or more productive of justice. Rather, informing jurors, as the present instructions do, that they must be consistent in attributing responsibility for the payment of damages to parties whom they find to be culpable would appear to have the dual virtues of simplicity and common sense, while effectuating the underlying principle of responsibility in proportion to fault. Where the rule is both logical and clear, the likelihood of its implementation would seem greater.
Finally, as a practical matter, it does not seem to me realistic to assume that a juror who concludes that a party is not culpable would be able conscientiously to apportion financial responsibility to that party. His perception of a legal compulsion upon him to affix some responsibility upon a party whom he concludes is not responsible at all is more likely to cause that juror to assign to such a party an arbitrary proportion of the total liability. The introduction of such arbitrary or
In my view, the requirement of consistency in a juror‘s votes in the present context is supportive of the entire deliberative process, encouraging reason instead of speculation in the rendering of mutually interdependent special verdicts upon which the ultimate judgment is to be entered. To sustain that essential consistency in a juror‘s vote, it should be required that at least nine identical jurors whose votes ultimately apportion liability between two or more parties also agree that the negligence of each of those parties was a proximate cause of the total damages assessed. The absence of that consistency in the instant case, after full opportunity for deliberation was afforded to the jury, warranted the trial court‘s declaration of a mistrial, and we should decline to disturb that ruling.
Kaus, J., concurred.