Cummings v. Sine, 81-884
| Decision Date | 09 September 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-884,81-884 |
| Citation | 404 So.2d 147 |
| Parties | Roy W. CUMMINGS, Jr., and Carol Ann Cummings, Petitioners, v. Carl SINE and Timothy Ross Sine, Respondents. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
John F. Stanley of Vega, Brown, Nichols, Stanley & Martin, Naples, for petitioners.
Ronald Napier of Napier & Donovan, Naples, for respondents.
Petitioners, Roy W. Cummings, Jr. and Carol Ann Cummings, his wife, seek a writ of certiorari to review the trial court's order granting respondents' motion for leave to interview jurors. An interview would be improper, they urge, because it would necessarily involve an inquiry into the thought processes of the jurors. We agree and grant the writ.
Petitioners sued respondents, Carl and Timothy Sine, to recover damages arising out of an accident in which the petitioner, Roy W. Cummings, Jr., was injured while jogging. His wife, Carol Ann, sought compensation as a derivative claimant. The jury awarded Mr. Cummings $186,000 and compensated his wife in the amount of $20,000. However, the jury found that Mr. Cummings was twenty percent at fault in the accident. Accordingly, the trial court reduced the jury award by twenty percent and entered a final judgment of $148,800 for Mr. Cummings and $16,000 for his wife. The jury was polled and each juror acknowledged the correctness of the verdict.
Respondents subsequently filed a motion to interview the jurors pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.431(g), which allows a party to move for an order permitting an interview of jurors where that party believes the verdict may be subject to legal challenge. They contended the verdict was subject to challenge because the final award totaled $164,800, almost the precise figure petitioners' counsel recommended to the jury as compensation for Mr. Cummings. Respondents claimed that the jury must have adjusted its award so that when the court reduced it by twenty percent, the final figure would equal the amount suggested by the petitioners. 1 Thus, respondents argued that the jury did not follow the court's instructions to the effect that while it should determine the percentage of the parties' negligence, the court would reduce any judgment accordingly. After hearing argument by counsel, the trial judge concluded "that there could be a possibility that they (the jurors) did not follow the court's instructions as to comparative negligence" and granted the respondents' motion.
Because of the great sanctity accorded jury verdicts, courts have traditionally been reluctant to allow jurors to be questioned concerning them. Thus, where the record does not reveal any misconduct or irregularity on the part of any juror, the case was fairly and impartially tried and each juror is polled and...
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...5th DCA 1986) ("[A]n investigation into the subjective decision-making process of the jury is not permissible."); Cummings v. Sine, 404 So.2d 147, 148 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981) ("[C]ourts ... do not permit an inquiry into the individual thought processes, calculations or judgments of jurors. This ......
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