Opinion

Steiner v. Custer

  • 137 Ohio St. 448
  • 137 Ohio St. (N.S.) 448
  • 19 Ohio Op. 148
  • 31 N.E.2d 855
  • 1940 Ohio LEXIS 502
Court
Ohio Supreme Court
Filed
Dec 24, 1940
Status
Published
Author
Turner
On the bench
Zimmerman, Turner, Weygandt, Day, Williams, Matthias, Hart
Cited by
247 cases
Authority
More cited than 78.5%

The opinion

Turner, J.,

dissenting. I am of the opinion that the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be affirmed, because the trial court committed a gross abuse of its discretion in sustaining the motion for a new trial and in relying upon depositions of jurors respecting not only their

voir dire

examinations but in respect also of their jury-room deliberations.

No foundation by evidence

aliunde

was laid for the introduction of such depositions. Nothing in the depositions showed any prejudice to the plaintiff. The admission of such depositions was. arbitrary.

The

voir dire

examination of the jurors was not reported at the trial. At the hearing by another judge, on- the motion for a new trial, some general statements of some of the questions were made and acquiesced in. However, the jurors whose depositions were taken do not agree fully with the statements of the questions by counsel, and each of the jurors says under oath in substance that he understood the question pertaining to prior accidents was whether or' not he or any relative had been involved in any accident resulting in litigation. Taking the depositions at full face value, no prejudice to the plaintiff was shown.

There is no clear and convicing proof that any juror withheld any information on the

voir dire

examination. Nothing was disclosed by the depositions which showed any grounds for the sustaining of a challenge for 'cause or suspicion of prejudice.

I agree with the statement contained in the first memorandum opinion of the Court of Appeals, to wit:

*453

“We have carefully examined these affidavits and depositions, and from an examination of the record, we find no outside testimony. We are of the opinion that there is nothing in these affidavits or depositions to show that any of the jurors was partial, biased, or prejudiced to the extent that would warrant a removal of any one of the jurors from the panel.”

I am unable to find in this record any evidence of misconduct of the jury, but I do find a gross abuse of discretion in granting the motion for a new trial. See,

inter alia, Schwindt

v. Graeff, 109 Ohio St., 404 , 142 N. E., 736 ;

Lund

v.

Kline,

133 Ohio St., 317 , 13 N. E. (2d), 575; and

Muskingum Watershed Conservancy Dist.

v.

Funk,

134 Ohio St., 302, 306 , 16 N. E. (2d), 454.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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