Johnson v. Hansen , 237 Or. 1 ( 1964 )

DENECKE, J.,

specially concurring.

The majority opinion holds that the asking of the questions was not prejudicial, either because the jury did not know the question suggested that the defendants were covered by liability insurance, or that if some jurors “did get the message,” the trial court had the discretion to determine that the effect of this knowledge was not prejudicial to the defendants. The trial court’s remarks made when denying the motion for a mistrial do not clearly indicate the ground upon which it based its ruling. One reasonable interpretation of such remarks is that the trial court decided that the question had not informed the jury that the defendants had insurance. The jurors were not attorneys or judges to whom the innuendo of the question would be obvious. I believe the trial court reasonably could have concluded that the questions did not inform the jury that the defendants had liability insurance. See Hornby v. Wiper, 155 Or 203, 210, 63 P2d 204 (1936); Rundlett v. Director, 150 Or 658, 47 P2d 848 (1935); Barbour v. Stahl, 142 Or 20, 18 P2d 807 (1933). On this basis I concur.