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Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Garrett8/28/1996
iam Hohman's wife who was pursuing his claims and her own in the trial, died of a heart attack during the trial (not in the courtroom). The trial judge determined that the jury members had a right to know of her death and informed them; the transcript reflects "gasps" from the jury. All defendants moved for a mistrial at that time, which was denied.
Mr. Scruggs, who had appeared in court to testify only weeks earlier, also died during the trial. Defendants objected to the trial judge's decision to inform the jury of his death as highly prejudicial, but the trial judge determined that the jurors needed to know of Mr. Scruggs' death and informed them. The transcript again reflected "sighs" and "gasps" from the jurors. Defendants' motion for a mistrial was again denied.
In addition to the deaths of two plaintiffs occurring during the trial, proceedings were halted for three weeks while the trial judge was ill; one of the plaintiffs' witnesses, William Whitley, experienced chest pains while testifying, left the stand abruptly, and had to be removed from the courthouse by ambulance; and finally, OCF's lead counsel had to withdraw from representation halfway through the trial for family reasons. After each of these instances defendants moved for a mistrial, which was denied each time. The judge explained at length to the jury the circumstances behind Mr. Whitley's sudden illness on the stand.
All of these incidents, according to OCF, "contaminated the trial" and, in combination with the prejudicial remarks of which all defendants complain, "transcended any curative effect of the trial court's cautionary instructions."
As evidence of the prejudice they suffered, defendants point to the failure of the jury to find any cross-claim defendant liable, attributing the jury's findings in part to the vitriolic attacks directed by plaintiffs' counsel only at the direct defendants. Defendants maintain that evidence of the plaintiffs' exposure to the products of certain cross-defendants was far greater than the evidence against the direct defendants, and therefore that the jury's verdict for the cross-defendants and against the direct defendants "must be interpreted as the result of the prejudicial and improper attacks by plaintiffs' counsel."
In reviewing the trial judge's denial of a mistrial motion, we will not disturb the ruling absent a clear showing of abuse of discretion. Medical Mut. Liab. Ins. Soc'y v. Evans, 330 Md. 1, 19, 622 A.2d 103, 112 (1993); State v. Hawkins, 326 Md. 270, 277, 604 A.2d 489, 493 (1992); White v. State, 300 Md. 719, 737, 481 A.2d 201, 210 (1984); Jacobson v. Julian, 246 Md. 549, 561, 229 A.2d 108, 116 (1967). When trial judges exercise discretion, they "balance alternative solutions and decide which one to apply, in order to advance the interests of justice." McCloud v. State, 317 Md. 360, 367, 564 A.2d 72, 75 (1989); Colter v. State, 297 Md. 423, 426-31, 466 A.2d 1286, 1288-90 (1983).
Our first question in determining abuse of discretion in denying a mistrial motion is if and to what extent the movant was prejudiced by the denial. See Evans, 330 Md. at 19-20, 622 A.2d at 112; Rainville v. State, 328 Md. 398, 408, 614 A.2d 949, 953 (1992); Jacobson, 246 Md. at 561, 229 A.2d at 116. As we stated in Evans and repeated most recently in ACandS, Inc. v. Godwin, 340 Md. 334, 667 A.2d 116 (1995),
"'Where the [motion for a mistrial] is denied and the trial judge gives a curative instruction, we must determine whether the evidence was so prejudicial that it denied the defendant a fair trial; that is, whether the damage in the form of prejudice to the defendant transcended the curative effect of the instruction.'"
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