holding that appellee preserved his jury-charge challenge by objecting to the relevant proposed jury instructions at the recorded charge conference, objecting on the record on the day of trial, and responding to "the court before the jury commenced deliberating that he wanted to preserve both the objections he had made during the charging conference ... and the objection to the ... charge he had raised that morning"
How later courts described this case
- holding that appellee preserved his jury-charge challenge by objecting to the relevant proposed jury instructions at the recorded charge conference, objecting on the record on the day of trial, and responding to "the court before the jury commenced deliberating that he wanted to preserve both the objections he had made during the charging conference ... and the objection to the ... charge he had raised that morning"
- holding a judicial decision announced a new rule of law where "it overruled prior decisions of the Superior Court"
- "Objections to jury instructions must be made before the jury retires to deliberate, unless the trial court specifically allows otherwise.”
- “[Defendants ... did not rely on the “error in judgment” [jury] instruction as a substantive matter of law that alters or modifies the essential standard of care.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION
Justice SAYLOR.
I join Part I of the majority opinion, concur in the result as to Part II, generally support the majority’s rationale in Parts 111(A) through (D), and dissent relative to Parts III(E), IV, and V.
Briefly, I am aligned with the majority’s decision to reconsider the appropriateness of distinguishing between an error in judgment and medical negligence, since the relevant concepts can be explained to lay jurors in a more straightforward fashion and the notion of a non-negligent error in judgment has the potential to confuse. On this point, my difference with the majority is centrally one of degree, in terms of the potential impact of injection of a brief reference to errors in judgment into an otherwise appropriate jury charge. Nevertheless, based on the possibility of some uncertainty or confusion, I join the majority in establishing a bright-line rule proscribing the errors-in-judgment instruction in medical malpractice cases, albeit I would do so only prospectively, prohibiting the trial courts from using the phraseology in jury instructions in medical malpractice cases.
In terms of the result, I respectfully dissent based on the noted difference in degree and my position that the per se rule should be prospective.