FRIEDA EDELSTEIN AND WILLIAM EDELSTEIN, HER HUSBAND, APPELLANTS,
v.
HARRY ROSKIN AND FEDERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1978-03-07
No. 77-161
Before PEARSON, HUBBART and KE-HOE, JJ.
356 So. 2d 38 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1978) Negative Treatment
Cited by 12 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

In this personal injury automobile accident case, the trial judge committed reversible error by failing to properly answer the jury's question about whether a juror familiar with the accident scene could share his personal observations with other jurors during deliberations. The court should have clearly instructed that jurors cannot act as witnesses in the jury room.


Holding

The trial judge committed reversible error. The judge's duty was to answer the jury's question in the negative, clarifying that jurors cannot become witnesses in the jury room and share special or independent facts not received in evidence, and could have properly reread Florida Standard Jury Instruction No. 2.2.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court commits reversible error by failing to directly answer a jury's question regarding the permissible conduct of a juror who possesses outside knowledge of the…

[2] Jurors must confine their evaluation of evidence to facts presented in court and cannot act on independent facts not received in evidence.

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“It is equally true that it is not necessary for a juror to have no knowledge other than that which he receives in the courtroom.”

Establishes that jurors may use general knowledge and experience, but this does not permit them to act as witnesses.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Frieda Edelstein was injured in a collision with Harry Roskin's automobile at an intersection in North Miami Beach. During voir dire, juror Mr. Stone …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PEARSON, Judge.

PEARSON, Judge.

The controlling question on this appeal is whether the trial judge committed reversible error when he failed to answer a question presented to him by the jury during its deliberation.

This case involves an automobile accident which occurred at the intersection of Northeast 19th Avenue and Northeast 185th Street, North Miami Beach, Florida, when an automobile being driven by plaintiff-appellant, Frieda Edelstein, collided with an automobile being operated by defendant-appellee, Harry Roskin. As a result of the accident, plaintiff Frieda Edelstein filed a personal injury action against Harry Ros-kin, his insurer, Federal Insurance Company, Inc., and the owner of the car, H. Ros-kin Motor Service, Inc. The case was tried before a jury.

During the voir dire, plaintiffs’ attorney asked the jurors whether any of them lived near the intersection where the accident occurred or whether any of the jurors were familiar with the intersection. One of the jurors, Mr. Stone, stated that he was familiar with the intersection and that he lived eight miles west of it. Plaintiff then asked the jurors whether anybody else was familiar with the intersection. The rest of the jurors said no. No further questions were asked by plaintiffs’ counsel concerning the juror’s familiarity with the intersection, but plaintiff’s counsel did ask whether all of the members of the jury would abide by the court’s instruction to decide the case upon the evidence presented. Counsel did not use any of his peremptory challenges, nor was Mr. Stone challenged for cause.

During their deliberations, the jury requested the court to answer a question, as follows: “ . . . if a juror is familiar with the intersection in question, can he tell other jurors his views with respect to the visibility and structures at the intersection?”

In reply to the question, the court instructed the jury:

“I’m going to answer that question in this way. This accident took place in the complaint, February 24th, 1973.

“I have previously charged this jury with the facts that you as a jury shall consider all of the evidence in the light of all of the evidence, and in light of your experience and common sense, your own experience and common sense.

“If you as a jury should become a deadlocked jury, I would read you this charge.

“Members of the jury, it is your duty to agree upon a verdict, if you can do so without violating conscientiously held convictions that are based on the evidence.

“No juror, from mere pride of opinion hastily formed or expressed, should refuse to agree.

“Yet, no juror, simply for the purpose of terminating the ease, should acquiesce in a conclusion that is contrary to his own conscientiously held view of the evidence.

“You should listen to each other’s views, talk over your differences of opinion in a spirit of fairness and candor, and if possible, resolve your differences and come to a common conclusion, so that a verdict may be reached and this case may be disposed of.

“If that satisfies your question, you can be excused.”

The jury rendered its verdict finding that there was no negligence on the part of the defendant.

Plaintiffs filed a motion to interview jurors and a motion for new trial, which were denied. This appeal followed.

There is no doubt that in evaluating the evidence, the jury should confine its considerations to the facts in evidence as weighed and interpreted in the light of common knowledge. Jurors must not act on special or independent facts which were not received in evidence. Russ v. State, 95 So. 2d 594 (Fla.1957). It is equally true that it is not necessary for a juror to have no knowledge other than that which he receives in the courtroom. See Marshall v. State, 54 Fla. 66, 44 So. 742 (1907). Cf. Florida Standard Jury Instructions No. 2.2.

The question asked of the trial judge in this case was not whether the juror who had a certain familiarity with the scene of the accident would be required to disabuse his mind of all such knowledge. The question particularly asked was whether a juror might become a witness in the jury room. It was the duty of the trial judge to answer this question in the negative and, in so doing, he could properly have reread the Florida Standard Jury Instruction No. 2.2, above referred to.

Reversed and remanded with directions to grant the plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Coleman P. Houchins, Jr. v. Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co., 388 So. 2d 1287 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
    …cord in the case. While a juror is not required to disabuse his mind of knowledge about the place where the accident occurred, he is not permitted to become a witness in the jury room by imparting such knowledge to other jurors. Edelstein v. Roskin, 356 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). See also Ace Cab Company v. Garcia, 140 So. 2d 338 (Fla. 3d DCA 1962) (misconduct for a juror without court permission to view the place where the accident occurred); 4 Wigmore, Evidence § 1166 (Chadbourn Rev. 1972) (a view not h…
  • Snook v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 485 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)
    …importing his knowledge to other jurors. Houchins v. Florida East Coast Railway, 388 So. 2d 1287 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). In reaching a verdict, jurors must not act on special or independent facts which were not received in evidence. Edelstein v. Roskin, 356 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). In this instance, the juror was alleged to have deliberately disregarded the court’s instructions not to discuss the case and to base the verdict solely on evidence presented during trial by not only consulting with someone else,…
  • Sayih v. Irwin Perlmutter, M.D., 561 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …ts deliberations, was not subject to a contemporaneous motion and curative instruction.2 Jurors should be free of evidence not received during trial. See Snook v. Firestone Fire & Rubber Co., 485 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Edelstein v. Roskin, 356 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). It is generally reversible error to deliver to the jury room any materials which have not been admitted into evidence where the materials are of such character as to influence the jury. See Walker v. Sparkling Pools, Inc., 171 So…

Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw