Ex parte Toyota Motor Corp.

• Citation: 684 So.2d 132
• Parties: Ex parte TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. (In re Carol C. PRICE, as administratrix of the Estate of Mell W. Price II, deceased v. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.). 1951034.
• Decision Date: 06 September 1996
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 132

684 So.2d 132

Ex parte TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

(In re Carol C. PRICE, as administratrix of the Estate of Mell W. Price II, deceased v. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.).

1951034.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 6, 1996.

D. Alan Thomas, T. Kelly May and Frank E. Lankford, Jr. of Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, Birmingham, for Petitioners.

Nat Bryan and Ralph Bohanan, Jr. of Pittman, Hooks, Marsh, Dutton & Hollis, P.C., Birmingham, for Respondent.

HOUSTON, Justice.

The Court of Civil Appeals reversed a judgment based upon a jury verdict for Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (hereinafter together referred to as "Toyota"), the defendants in a wrongful death case. This was done because a juror, W. P., had pleaded guilty to third degree burglary 12 1/2 years before he served on the petit jury in this case. Toyota had peremptorily struck W.P.; however, W.P. was reinstated as a member of the petit jury because the plaintiff, Carol C. Price, as administratrix of the estate of Mell W. Price II, deceased, contended that Toyota had violated Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), in striking W.P. The trial court upheld Price's challenge in the face of what Toyota contended were race-neutral reasons (that W.P. was unemployed, had owned a "lemon" automobile, was young and single, and, therefore, would more likely be somewhat negative toward Toyota and tend to render a higher verdict). The jury found for Toyota. Price sought a new trial because W. P., who Price had insisted be reinstated as a juror, had served on the jury. The trial court denied the new trial motion. Price appealed, and the Court of Civil Appeals reversed and remanded. Price v. Toyota Motor Corp., 684 So.2d 131 (Ala.1996). We granted Toyota's petition for certiorari review. Toyota raised two issues:

(1) Whether Price waived the right to challenge W. P.'s statutory disqualification through a failure to exercise due diligence to keep disqualified persons, such as W. P., off the jury panel; and (2) Whether Price waived the error by successfully challenging Toyota's peremptory strike of W.P. under Batson.

FACTS

The facts underlying this case are undisputed. Carol Price filed a wrongful death action in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court in 1993, based on the death of Mell W. Price II. The case came up for trial during the week of May 8, 1995. As was the custom in Tuscaloosa County, the initial qualification of the jury pool was conducted all at once by a "qualifying judge," who would not preside over the trial, prior to the beginning of the several trials scheduled for that week. ¹ Price's attorneys chose not to attend the initial qualifying session. During the initial session, the qualifying judge twice asked the members of the jury pool, "Is there anyone who has been convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude?" During the qualifying session, the jury was never asked if any juror had "lost the right to vote." Ala.Code 1975, § 12-16-60(a)(4). ²

After assembling the venire for Price's case, the trial judge conducted a second voir dire examination. Price's attorneys were present for this second voir dire. The trial judge began the voir dire himself, with a series of questions, but he asked no questions concerning criminal convictions, losing the right to vote, or any other related matters. Following this, Price's attorneys conducted a lengthy and extensive voir dire, but asked no questions concerning criminal convictions, losing the right to vote, or any other related matters.

W.P. was a member of the jury pool for this case. Once the voir dire had concluded, Toyota used a peremptory strike to remove W.P. from the jury panel. Price challenged the strike of W.P., under Batson, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), arguing that the strike was racially motivated. After considering Toyota's stated reasons for the strike, the trial judge disallowed On May 13, 1995, the jury returned a verdict for Toyota. After the verdict was returned, Price's attorneys investigated the members of the jury and learned that W.P. had pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree, a Class C felony, and resisting arrest, a Class B misdemeanor. Price then moved for a new trial, arguing that she was entitled to a new trial because, she said, if W.P. had revealed his burglary conviction "[her attorneys] could have ... asked ... [follow-up] questions, including whether [W.P.'s] civil rights had been subsequently restored," to determine if W.P. was statutorily disqualified to serve on a jury, pursuant to § 12-16-60(a)(4). Toyota opposed Price's new trial motion, arguing that Price had waived her right to challenge W.P.'s qualifications to sit on the jury by failing to exercise due diligence to identify statutorily disqualified venire members during voir dire and by challenging Toyota's strike of W.P. despite Price's lack of knowledge of whether W.P. was statutorily qualified to serve on the jury. In support of its argument in opposition to Price's new trial motion, Toyota attached the affidavit of juror W.P., in which W.P. stated in part:

the strike and, at Price's request, seated W.P. on the jury.

"I recall the question being asked whether anyone had been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude. I did not understand the question and I do not know what is meant by the term moral turpitude. I did not mean to deceive anyone by not answering this question....

"To the best of my knowledge, I believe that I have the right to vote in any election. I am not aware that my right to vote has been revoked."

After considering the arguments from both sides, the trial court denied Price's new trial motion, on the basis of the "invited error doctrine."

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The plaintiff, Price, appealed the trial judge's denial of her new trial motion to this Court; pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-7, we transferred the appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the trial court's denial of Price's motion for a new trial. That court wrote:

"Our supreme court has held that a prospective juror's conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude is both a disqualification and a common law ground for a challenge for cause. Noble Trucking Co. v. Payne, 664 So.2d 202 (Ala.1995); Chrysler Credit Corp. v. McKinney, 456 So.2d 1069 (Ala.1984). Furthermore, 'a new trial is mandated where a juror serves who has failed to respond to a specific question based upon a statutory disqualification.' Chrysler Credit Corp., 456 So.2d at 1071."

Price v. Toyota Motor Corp., 684 So.2d at 131. On this certiorari review, Toyota requests that we reverse the Court of Civil Appeals' holding and reinstate the judgment in its favor.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

On certiorari review, this Court accords no presumption of correctness to the legal conclusions of the intermediate appellate court. Therefore, we must apply de novo the standard of review that was applicable in the Court of Civil Appeals. In McBride v. Sheppard, 624 So.2d 1069, 1070-71 (Ala.1993), this Court stated the standard applicable on review of a trial court's ruling on a motion for new trial:

"[T]he ruling on a motion for new trial is within the discretion of the trial court[,] and ... the trial court's decision carries a strong presumption of correctness. Gold Kist, Inc. v. Tedder, 580 So.2d 1321, 1322 (Ala.1991). The decision of the trial court should not be disturbed on appeal unless the record plainly and palpably shows that the trial court erred and that some legal right has been abused."

I.

Judge Cates, while serving on the Court of Appeals, wrote Beasley v. State, 39 Ala.App. 182, 96 So.2d 693 (1957), Alabama's leading case in the area of disqualified jurors. In Beasley, he enunciated a three-part test for reviewing trial court rulings on new trial motions in cases where an allegedly disqualified person served on the jury:

"Our enquiry on the ruling of the trial judge begins with, first, was [there] ... a ground for [the juror to be] mandatorily excused as a petit juror; second, did the [complaining litigant] exercise due diligence to keep unqualified jurors [from] being put upon him; and, third, if the first two questions are answered 'yes,' then was [the disqualified person's] presence on the jury such a ground for a new trial that ... the trial judge had no discretion but to grant a new trial?"

Beasley, 39 Ala.App. at 185, 96 So.2d at 695-96.

We need not consider the first question of the Beasley test (see footnotes 1 and 2). As to the third question, our opinions in Noble Trucking Co. v. Payne, 664 So.2d 202 (Ala.1995), and Chrysler Credit Corp. v. McKinney, 456 So.2d 1069 (Ala.1984), hold that, provided that the complaining litigant exercised due diligence to have disqualified persons removed from the jury pool (question two), a venireperson's failure to respond to a question concerning a statutory disqualification requires the grant of a new trial. The issue before this Court, then, is whether the trial judge correctly denied Price's new trial motion based upon his finding that Price had invited the error she now complains of, by failing to exercise due diligence to keep W.P., who she now alleges to be disqualified, off the jury panel.

Under Alabama law, a "[f]ailure to timely challenge a juror for cause may result in a waiver of the right to do so if the fact of disqualification is either known or, through the exercise of due diligence, should be known." Watters v. Lawrence County, 551 So.2d 1011, 1016 (Ala.1989) (citing Williams v. Dan River Mills, Inc., 286 Ala. 703, 246 So.2d 431 (1971)). ³ Relying on Noble Trucking Co. v. Payne, 664 So.2d 202 (Ala.1995), and Chrysler Credit Corp. v. McKinney, 456 So.2d 1069 (Ala.1984), the Court of Civil Appeals held that the trial judge had erred in finding that Price had failed to exercise due diligence to keep unqualified persons...