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Middleton v. Beckett5/14/1998
CAUSE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS
Division V
Rothenberg and Kapelke, JJ., concur
In this personal injury action, plaintiffs, Edward W. Middleton (husband) and his wife, Nancy Middleton, appeal the judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of defendant, Marlene H. Beckett, finding that defendant had not caused plaintiffs' injuries. We remand for further proceedings.
Following a collision in which a car driven by defendant rear-ended a vehicle occupied by both plaintiffs, plaintiffs sued. The trial court determined that defendant was negligent in the operation of her vehicle and that her negligence was the sole cause of the accident between plaintiffs and defendant. Nevertheless, the jury returned a verdict that husband did not suffer any injuries.
I.
Plaintiffs first contend that the trial court committed reversible error when it ruled as a matter of law that Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986) did not apply to civil trials and that, therefore, defendant was not required to furnish race-neutral reasons for using her peremptory challenges to dismiss all minority jurors from the panel. Defendant conceded at oral argument that Batson applies in civil cases. We agree and conclude that a remand for further proceedings is necessary for resolution of this issue.
The United States Supreme Court has held that in a civil trial exclusion on account of race violates a prospective juror's equal protection rights and that a court must entertain a challenge to a private litigant's racially discriminatory use of peremptory challenges. Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., 500 U.S. 614, 111 S.Ct. 2077, 114 L.Ed.2d 660 (1991). In Edmonson, the Supreme Court stated that the approach in Batson to determine whether a prima facie case has been established applies in the civil context.
Here, the limited record indicates that plaintiffs' counsel advised the court of his concern that defendant had exercised peremptory challenges to exclude all the minority members from the jury, and that the challenges were racially motivated. The court advised that it "has no awareness that the Batson case has any bearing on a civil case jury selection and denies the motion."
Following trial, plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial asserting that, pursuant to Edmonson, the Supreme Court has applied the reasoning of Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991) to civil cases. In her response to this motion, defendant conceded that the minority jurors were excused through the use of peremptory challenges. Defendant, however, offered race-neutral explanations for their removal. The court denied the motion without a hearing and without stating a basis for its ruling.
When the trial court does not make all the findings necessary under the Batson analysis, the appropriate remedy is to remand for further proceedings. People v. Mendoza, 876 P.2d 98 (Colo. App. 1994). Accordingly, the cause must be remanded for further proceedings for the trial court to make the findings necessary under Batson.
II.
Plaintiffs next contend that they were denied a fair trial because defendant failed to disclose all surveillance videotapes made of husband, despite plaintiffs having made requests during pretrial discovery for all such videotapes. We conclude that a remand for further proceedings is necessary.
C.R.C.P. 26 through 37 authorize comprehensive pretrial discovery and are intended to facilitate and simplify the issues and avoid surprises at trial. Ricci v. Davis, 627 P.2d 1111 (Colo. 1981).
Surveillance movies demonstrating a
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