Ryan v. Arneson

• Decision Date: 13 April 1988
• Docket Number: No. 86-1498,86-1498
• Citation: 422 N.W.2d 491
• Parties: Forrest RYAN, Appellant, v. Ralph E. ARNESON and Shirley J. Arneson, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 491

422 N.W.2d 491

Forrest RYAN, Appellant, v. Ralph E. ARNESON and Shirley J. Arneson, Appellees.

No. 86-1498.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 13, 1988.

James U. Mellick, Waukon, for appellant.

James A. Garrett of Jacobson, Bristol, Thomson & Garrett, Waukon, for appellees.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, CARTER, NEUMAN, and ANDREASEN, JJ.

ANDREASEN, Justice.

This appeal presents three primary issues for consideration by this court. First, is a juror competent to testify as to conversations in the jury room concerning a quotient verdict. Second, is the award of punitive damages excessive, and third, is the prevailing party entitled to attorney fees on appeal under Iowa Code section 639.14 (1987).

I. Background.

This is an action concerning the ownership of approximately twenty acres of land and opposing claims of conversion and wrongful attachment.

The disputed property is a very rugged and wooded parcel of land in northeast Iowa. It is common practice in this area not to construct fences along property lines when the terrain is rugged. When fence lines do not match the property lines, livestock belonging to neighboring farmers often travel onto neighboring property. The trial court determined that this type of situation has existed in that general area for decades.

In 1956, Ralph Arneson and his wife, Shirley, acquired title to the property and held it as joint tenants. Forrest Ryan has never owned an interest in the disputed area, however, he does own property adjacent to the disputed area. There is a fence on Arnesons' land which follows the rough terrain of the disputed area. This fence is maintained by the Arnesons. The trial court found that this fence was treated as a barrier rather than a boundary fence.

Ryan's cattle occasionally ventured into the disputed area. In 1984 Ryan allowed his son to harvest six white oak trees from the disputed area. The Arnesons denied knowledge of these trees being cut down. Approximately fifteen years ago, while Ryan and Arneson were discussing a remnant fence in the disputed area, Ryan indicated to Arneson that he had located the boundary of their properties near the legal boundary. Although Ryan testified that he had no knowledge of a legal description of land, or of how sections and quarter sections of land are arranged, the court did not find his testimony credible. The court also found that Ryan participated in the local custom of maintaining fence lines that do not correspond with boundary lines on three locations within a one-half mile of the disputed property.

Prior to commencement of legal action, bad feelings had developed between the parties. Ryan renounced the Arnesons as his neighbors. The Arnesons allowed hunting on their land; Ryan did not. These differing policies have led to several confrontations that culminated in a serious argument in April of 1985 when a hunter used Ryan's land to approach Arnesons' land. The trial court allowed evidence of the dispute to be introduced, including evidence indicating malice on the part of Ryan.

In the summer of 1986, Arneson harvested approximately 150 trees from the disputed area and portions of Arnesons' land that are not in dispute. Ryan filed suit on July 15, 1986, to attach the logs, which he claimed were wrongfully removed from his land. Ryan claimed to have acquired title to the disputed land by acquiescence under Iowa Code section 650.14 (1985) and by adverse possession. Ryan subsequently released the attachment and brought suit claiming title by acquiescence and adverse possession; and claiming treble damages for trespass and conversion for wrongfully removing the trees. Arneson counterclaimed for wrongful attachment of the logs and to quiet title to the disputed area.

This was a bifurcated trial to both the court and the jury. After the court determined the issues concerning the title of the disputed area, the jury would decide the owner's claim for damages. The court quieted title of the disputed area in the Arnesons. The jury then returned a verdict against Ryan for $120 actual damages and $18,600 punitive damages. The court ordered Ryan to pay $8500 attorney fees and $1047.58 in court costs.

Ryan filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial, and requested a hearing on the issue of jury misconduct. Ryan asserted that the jury's award of punitive damages was a quotient verdict which improperly included certain surveying costs. The motion was supported by the affidavit of juror Janet Palmer. Arnesons resisted this motion and submitted affidavits from seven jurors, including Janet Palmer, denying the use of a quotient verdict. The court rejected Ryan's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial and refused to consider the jurors' affidavits because of Iowa Rule of Evidence 606(b). The court awarded the Arnesons an additional $2,976.22 in attorney fees for the post-trial motions.

The Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment quieting title in the Arnesons. The court of appeals held that the trial court did not err in admitting evidence that tended to show that Ryan's actions were malicious. The court of appeals concluded that it was error for the district court to refuse to consider the jurors' affidavits and thus did not determine if the punitive damage award was excessive. The court of appeals awarded the Arnesons an additional $1000 of attorney fees and remanded the case.

II. Quieting Title.

The district court quieted title in the Arnesons and found that Ryan had not established title by acquiescence under Iowa Code section 650.15 or by adverse possession. See I-80 Assoc., Inc. v. Chicago R.I. & Pac. R.R. Co., 224 N.W.2d 8, 10 (Iowa 1974). We agree with the trial court's finding and affirm the quieting of title in Arnesons.

III. Juror Testimony Concerning Quotient Verdict.

Ryan claimed that the jurors committed misconduct by using a quotient verdict to arrive at the amount of punitive damages. A quotient verdict is a verdict in which the jurors agree in advance to be bound by the average of the amounts written down by each juror. See Sheker v. Jensen, 241 Iowa 583, 587, 41 N.W.2d 679, 681 (1950) ("The pivotal factor is the agreement to be bound by the figure thus obtained, made prior to the ballot."). While it is improper for the jury to agree to be bound by an average, it is not improper for a jury to use an average as an aid in discussion. See id.; see also Gus Gutfreund & Co. v. Williams, 172 Iowa 535, 537, 154 N.W. 753, 753 (1915).

Before considering the merits of the claim of jury misconduct, Ryan must offer competent evidence of jury misconduct. Whether statements, affidavits, or testimony of jurors concerning their conduct can be received in evidence has given rise to substantial difference of opinion. Fed.R.Evid. 606(b) advisory committee's note. In McDonald v. Pless, 238 U.S. 264, 267, 35 S.Ct. 783, 784, 59 L.Ed. 1300, 1302 (1915), the United States Supreme Court held that testimony from jurors concerning a quotient verdict was not admissible. The McDonald Court reviewed the policy considerations presented by this issue.

These two conflicting considerations are illustrated in the present case. If the facts were as stated in the affidavit, the jury adopted an arbitrary and unjust method in arriving at their verdict, and the defendant ought to have had relief, if the facts could have been proved by witnesses who were competent to testify in a proceeding to set aside the verdict. But let it once be established that verdicts solemnly made and publicly returned into court can be attacked and set aside on the testimony of those who took part in their publication and all verdicts could be, and many would be, followed by an inquiry in the hope of discovering something which might invalidate the finding. Jurors would be harassed and beset by the defeated party in an effort to secure from them evidence of facts which might establish misconduct sufficient to set aside a verdict. If evidence thus secured could be thus used, the result would be to make what was intended to be a private deliberation, the constant subject of public investigation; to the destruction of all frankness and freedom of discussion and conference.

Iowa case law concerning competency of jurors to testify has developed largely from Wright v. Illinois & Miss. Tel. Co., 20 Iowa 195, 210 (1866). See generally Note, Use of Jurors' Affidavits to Impeach Verdict, 45 Iowa L. Rev. 649 (1960). In Wright, we held that jurors' affidavits concerning a quotient verdict were competent evidence when considering a motion for new trial. The court stated:

While we do not feel entirely confident of its correctness, nor state it without considerable hesitation, yet we are not without that assurance, which, under the circumstances, justifies us in laying down the following true rule: That affidavits of jurors may be received for the purpose of avoiding a verdict, to show any matter occurring during the trial or in the jury room, which does not essentially inhere in the verdict itself....

Id. (emphasis added); see also Fuller v. Chicago & N.W. R.R. Co., 31 Iowa 211, 213 (1871). Iowa case law has developed primarily as an interpretation of whether a particular matter essentially inheres in the verdict.

An early use of the subjective/objective test to determine if a matter inheres in the verdict appeared in Griffin v. Harriman, 74 Iowa 436, 38 N.W. 139, 140 (1888). The court suggested that objective reports of statements made in the jury room were competent evidence, however, subjective reports concerning the influence or effect of those statements were not competent. Id. Subsequent cases continued to use an objective/subjective test to determine if jurors' affidavits related matters that essentially inhere in the verdict. See Harris v. Deere & Co., 263 N.W.2d 727, 729-30 (Iowa 1978) (jurors may give evidence of objective facts of what actually...