Fritz v. Wright

• Decision Date: 18 October 2006
• Parties: Darla FRITZ and Gordon Fritz, Appellants, v. Hazel WRIGHT, Carolyn Temple, Bonnie Stuart, and Samuel Wright, Individually and Doing Business as Wright's Lane Properties, Appellees.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

907 A.2d 1083

Darla FRITZ and Gordon Fritz, Appellants, v. Hazel WRIGHT, Carolyn Temple, Bonnie Stuart, and Samuel Wright, Individually and Doing Business as Wright's Lane Properties, Appellees.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 5, 2006.

Decided October 18, 2006.

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Nina B. Shapiro, Esq., for Darla Fritz and Gordon Fritz.

Gregory Buchwald Heller, Esq., for amicus curiae PA Trial Lawyers Association.

Peter Francis Schuchman, Jr., Esq., Wyomissing, for Hazel Wright, et al.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER and BALDWIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice BAER.

Appellant Gordon Fritz¹ appeals from an order of the Superior Court reversing the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County denying a motion for a mistrial filed by Hazel Wright, Carolyn Temple, Bonnie Stuart, and Samuel Wright (Appellees). The issue before this Court is whether 42 Pa.C.S. § 5104(b) and Article I, Section 6, of the Pennsylvania Constitution require that the same ten jurors vote identically on each question listed on a special interrogatory verdict sheet to sustain a proper "verdict" in the case. For the reasons that follow, we hold that any ten jurors who agree on a given interrogatory furnish a sufficient majority as to that question, and a verdict that requires a series of responses to interrogatories should be sustained even where a different grouping of ten jurors comprise the required majority for each individual question posed in a set of special interrogatories. Accordingly, we reverse the Superior Court's contrary ruling.

This matter arises out of personal injuries sustained on November 17, 1998 when Appellant lost his balance and fell on Appellees' driveway. Appellant was diagnosed with a shoulder injury, was treated medically, and allegedly missed over a year of work.

Appellant initiated this action by Writ of Summons and subsequent complaint filed on November 29, 2000, averring negligence by Appellees with respect to the design and maintenance of the driveway. Beginning on February 3, 2003, a three-day trial commenced before a twelve-member jury, during which the jury heard testimony that, among other damage claims, Appellant lost $45,000 in wages and suffered $6,300 in medical expenses as a result of his shoulder injury. After trial, the court submitted to the jury a verdict slip containing seven interrogatories.² The twelve-person jury rendered its initial verdict in favor of Appellant for $51,300. Appellees' counsel requested that the jury polled. After polling the jury twice, the trial court concluded that the jury had not reached a proper verdict because ten out of the twelve jurors did not agree on the amount of damages sustained by Appellant.³ Specifically, only nine out of the twelve jurors believed that Appellant should receive an award of $51,300. The trial court, therefore, instructed the jury to resume its deliberations.

Following further deliberations, the jury again returned to the courtroom and rendered its final verdict in favor of Appellant for $51,300. The trial court again polled the jury. The polled jury was unanimous that Appellees were negligent (question one); that Appellees' negligence was a substantial factor in causing Appellant's harm (question two); and that Appellant was contributorily negligent (question three). On the issue of whether Appellant's contributory negligence was a substantial factor in bringing about his harm (question four), ten jurors agreed that it was not, while jurors four and eight stated that Appellant's contributory negligence was a substantial factor in bringing about his harm. On the question regarding the amount of damages (question six), while ten jurors believed that Appellant sustained $51,300 in damages, jurors four and nine stated that Appellant should only receive an award of $6,300.⁴ Thus, while ten jurors agreed on each individual interrogatory, the identities of the dissenters as to questions four and six were not consistent, and therefore, the same ten jurors did not agree as to all of the questions material to the verdict and award.

Appellees' counsel moved for a mistrial, arguing that the jury was confused and had not reached a proper verdict because the same ten jurors did not agree on each question. The trial court denied Appellees' motion and concluded that the jury had reached a valid verdict because at least ten out of twelve jurors agreed on every question on the verdict slip. The trial court opined that "[i]t is not unreasonable to infer that, rather than being confused, jurors no. 8 and 9 simply reached different conclusions about how to most fairly compensate [Appellant] in light of the evidence of damages, just as they differed regarding the evidence of [Appellant's] contributory negligence." Tr. Ct. Op. at 10. Thus, the trial court denied Appellees' motion for a mistrial.

Appellees appealed to the Superior Court, arguing that the verdict was improperly rendered because only nine jurors agreed with it in its entirety. A divided panel of the Superior Court agreed with Appellees, vacated the judgment, and remanded for a new trial. The panel majority examined the language of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides, in relevant part:

Trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the right thereof remain inviolate. The General Assembly may provide, however, by law, that a verdict may be rendered by not less than five-sixths of the jury in any civil case.

PA. CONST. ART. 1, § 6. In accordance with this provision, the General Assembly enacted 42 Pa.C.S. § 5104(b), which provides that "[i]n any civil case a verdict rendered by at least five-sixths of the jury shall be the verdict of the jury and shall have the same effect as a unanimous verdict of the jury." The Superior Court framed the issue as whether the term "verdict" as used in the Pennsylvania Constitution and Section 5104(b) "consists of all of the answers to the interrogatories or whether each individual interrogatory is a separable `verdict.'" Fritz v. Wright, 872 A.2d 851, 852 (Pa.Super.2005). Addressing this question, the majority determined that verdict meant the former, reasoning that in the interest of justice it could not parse the verdict sheet and count the votes on individual questions as if each were a separate verdict. Rather, it held that the verdict upon which five-sixths of the jurors must agree is comprised of the total verdict inclusive of each interrogatory response. In this case, the Superior Court found that the total verdict was agreed to by only nine jurors, and thus was not a proper verdict, as nine was less than five-sixths of the total jury. The Superior Court majority noted that its holding would not prevent jurors with dissenting views from fully participating in the deliberation process. Instead, the majority opined that the dissenting jurors could continue to express their disagreements throughout the deliberation process, and seek to persuade others to their views.

Judge Olszewski filed a dissenting opinion, in which he opined that the "same-juror rule" established by the majority unconstitutionally burdens a litigant's right to a jury of twelve persons. He argued that there was a proper verdict in this case because at least ten jurors agreed Appellees were negligent; at least ten jurors agreed that Appellant's contributory negligence was not a substantial factor in bringing about his harm; and at least ten jurors agreed that Appellant was entitled to $51,300 in damages. In support of his position, Judge Olszewski relied on Blum v. Merrell Dow Pharm. Inc., 534 Pa. 97, 626 A.2d 537, 538 (1993), in which we articulated the constitutional right "entitling a party who properly demands a twelve person jury to a verdict from a jury of twelve persons," and explicitly recognized that it is of constitutional importance for each one of those twelve jurors to be able to engage fully in deliberations. Id. at 546-47. He explained that the same-juror rule in effect obviated the role of dissenting jurors by effectively nullifying any of their votes that occurred subsequent to their first minority vote. Under such circumstances, he argued the parties would receive jury deliberations by fewer than twelve jurors in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution as interpreted in Blum.

We granted allowance of appeal to determine whether Section 5104(b) and Article I, Section 6, of the Pennsylvania Constitution requires that the same ten jurors vote the same on each question listed on a special interrogatory verdict sheet for there to be a "verdict." As this is a question of law, our scope of review is plenary and our standard of review is de novo. See Touloumes v. E.S.C. Inc., 899 A.2d 343, 346 (2006).

Appellant argues that neither the Pennsylvania Constitution Article I, Section 6, nor 42 Pa.C.S. § 5104(b) requires that the same ten jurors must agree on the answers to all interrogatories on a verdict slip, and that the Superior Court's same-juror rule unconstitutionally infringes on Appellant's right to a full and complete deliberation and decision from a jury of twelve. See Smith v. Times Publ'g Co., 178 Pa. 481, 36 A. 296, 297 (1897). Appellant argues that the Superior Court created an unduly burdensome rule that allows the parties to dissect the jury's decision-making process and invade the sanctity of the jury, thus undermining the jury process.

Appellant further argues that the Superior Court majority opinion would complicate the jury deliberation process, thus undermining legislative intent in providing for less than unanimous verdicts, which Appellant posits was to simplify the jury deliberation process and reduce judicial inefficiency. Rather, Appellant advocates for the position espoused by Judge Olszewski, commonly referred to as the "any-majority rule," under which each matter submitted to the jury must be decided by a five-sixths majority, but the same five-sixths majority need not carry over from...