McDonnell v. Pescadero & San Mateo Stage Co.

Citations

• 120 Cal. 476
• 52 P. 725
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 791

Syllabus

<p>New Triad—Misconduct of Jury—Chance Verdict.—On a motion for a new trial in an action to recover damages for personal injuries, a prima facie showing that a verdict in favor of the plaintiff was arrived at by a resort to chance is made by an affidavit of defendant’s counsel, based upon information from several of the jurors not named, who declined to make affidavit thereto, that the jurymen agreed to be governed by the quotient arising from the addition of each juror’s estimate of the damages, and dividing the total by twelve, and the quotient being fractional, they then, without further deliberation, adopted and inserted an even sum, in connection with further affidavits showing the finding of slips of paper in the jury-room indicating such addition and division.</p> <p>Id.—Rebutting Affidavits of Jurors.—The prima facie showing thus made is overcome by the counter-affidavits of two of the jurors in support of the verdict, showing that there was in fact no agreement to be governed by the addition and division made, after the balloting, but that it was done merely to ascertain the average, and was not to control the minds of the jurors nor to forestall their ultimate conclusion, and was merely a basis from which to work in their effort to reach a verdict, and that the verdict finally reached was found only after consultation and deliberation, and not in accordance with any previous agreement; and the trial judge was justified in accepting their statements under oath, against those of jurymen who were unwilling either to state the facts under .oath, or to allow their identity to be disclosed.</p>