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Smith v. District Court12/18/1995
Original Proceeding
EN BANC
In this original proceeding, pursuant to C.A.R. 21, we directed the El Paso County District Court to show cause why it should not be prohibited from enforcing its order forbidding counsel to ask potential jurors if they are officers, directors, or policyholders of the defendants' insurance carrier. In accordance with our precedent, we hold that this so-called "insurance question" is admissible during voir dire because it tends to reveal possible interest or bias of potential jurors. We therefore make the rule to show cause absolute.
I.
On February 27, 1993, Christy Smith was seriously injured in a traffic accident involving her vehicle and a truck. She brought a personal injury action against the truck driver and the driver's employer (hereinafter referred to jointly as "defendants"). The defendants were insured pursuant to an automobile insurance policy issued by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm"). Prior to trial, on August 16, 1995, the defendants filed a motion in limine to prohibit voir dire on the insurance question. Specifically, the defendants' motion requested that the district court prohibit the plaintiff's counsel from asking potential jurors if any of them were officers, directors, or policyholders of State Farm and to prohibit the plaintiff's counsel from mentioning State Farm by name. On October 10, 1995, the court granted the defendants' motion in limine. The plaintiff subsequently filed a petition for writ of prohibition, requesting that this court issue an order prohibiting the district court from enforcing its order forbidding counsel to ask the insurance question during voir dire. Pursuant to the plaintiff's petition, we issued an order to show cause.
II.
The doctrine of stare decisis has long been established in the jurisprudence of this state, Creacy v. Industrial Comm'n, 148 Colo. 429, 433, 366 P.2d 384, 386 (1961), and should be adhered to in the absence of sound reason for rejecting it. People v. Quimby, 152 Colo. 231, 235, 381 P.2d 275, 277 (1963); see also Huydts v. Dixon, 199 Colo. 260, 606 P.2d 1303 (1980); Jennings v. Bradfield, 169 Colo. 146, 454 P.2d 81 (1969). Considerations of uniformity, certainty, and stability, which are the objectives of the stare decisis doctrine, Kern v. Gebhardt, 746 P.2d 1340, 1345 (Colo. 1987), should govern court decisions of this state.
It is well established in Colorado that the insurance question--whether prospective jurors are officers, directors, or policyholders of the defendant's insurance carrier--may be asked by counsel during voir dire of prospective jurors. Kaltenback v. Julesburg School District, 43 Colo. App. 150, 603 P.2d 955 (1979); Spillane v. Wright, 127 Colo. 580, 259 P.2d 1078 (1953); Rains v. Rains, 97 Colo. 19, 46 P.2d 740 (1935).
When the question of prospective jurors' relationship to the defendant's insurance carrier is raised during voir dire, the purpose is to determine the jurors' prejudices and biases. Rains, 97 Colo. at 30, 46 P.2d at 745. In contrast, when the fact of the defendant's insurance coverage is raised at trial, the effect is to suggest that the defendant is able to pay the plaintiff's claim, which is irrelevant to the merits of personal injury actions. Id. As we stated in Liber v. Flor,
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