Patterson Bank v. Gunter

Defendant was on notice that plaintiff had relatives among a broad class of persons who could be summoned for trial when plaintiff stated in a deposition that her husband had several unnamed cousins residing in the county.

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A Pierce County jury returned a verdict in favor of Carolyn Gunter in her slip and fall action against the Patterson Bank.1 The bank appeals from the denial of its motion for a new trial, which was based on its post-trial discovery of a juror’s disqualification and on the amount of the award for general damages. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. The bank contends it is entitled to a new trial because a juror was disqualified from serving due to his familial relationship to Gunter. See OCGA § 15-12-135 a a juror is disqualified if the juror is related “by consanguinity or affinity” to any party “within the sixth degree as computed according to the civil law”. The week after the trial, the bank discovered that the juror was related to Gunter within the prohibited degree of kinship.

After verdict, a litigant cannot obtain a new trial by reason of the fact that a juror is disqualified by relationship, unless the litigant can show that before the verdict it and its counsel did not know of the relationship and could not have discovered the relationship by the exercise of ordinary diligence. Reid v. State , 204 Ga. App. 358, 361 2 419 SE2d 321 1992; Millers Nat. Ins. Co. v. Waters , 97 Ga. App. 103, 109 2 102 SE2d 193 1958. “Where the party or its counsel has reason to believe that a disqualification exists, the burden is on them to make further investigation to determine the truth of the situation, and in the absence of further investigation such disqualification is waived and a judgment overruling such ground of the motion for new trial is not reversible error.” Citation omitted. Norman v. Norman , 103 Ga. App. 626, 629 2 120 SE2d 42 1961. When a motion for new trial is supported by evidence of a juror’s disqualification, we review the trial court’s decision under the abuse of discretion standard. Millers Nat. Ins. Co. v. Waters , 97 Ga. App. at 109 2.

Patterson Bank v. Gunter

Defendant was on notice that plaintiff had relatives among a broad class of persons who could be summoned for trial when plaintiff stated in a deposition that her husband had several unnamed cousins residing in the county.

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