Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. v. Johna Diane Ankrom

No. 19-0666 – Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. v. Johna Diane Ankrom
FILED
November 23, 2020
released at 3:00 p.m.
EDYTHE NASH GAISER, CLERK
SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS
OF WEST VIRGINIA
Jenkins, Justice, concurring, in part, and dissenting, in part:
I agree with the majority’s affirmance of the trial court’s assignment of
responsibility for the damage award in proportion to the percentage of liability that the jury
found as to each party, i.e. Wal-Mart and Mr. Leist. Such ruling is consistent with the
jury’s liability determination and award of damages, as well as the applicable law for the
recovery of a judgment from multiple defendants found to be responsible for a plaintiff’s
injuries.
However, I simply cannot agree with the majority’s determination that no
instructional error occurred during the trial of this case. A trial court should instruct the
jury on a party’s theory of the case where the facts and the law support the instruction. As
the majority astutely notes in Syllabus point 10 of its opinion,
“‘“‘[i]f there be evidence tending in some appreciable
degree to support the theory of proposed instructions, it is not
error to give such instructions to the jury, though the evidence
be slight, or even insufficient to support a verdict based entirely
on such theory.’ Syllabus Point 2, Snedeker v. Rulong, 69
W. Va. 223, 71 S.E. 180 (1911).” Syllabus Point 4, Catlett v.
MacQueen, 180 W. Va. 6, 375 S.E.2d 184 (1988) [(per
curiam)].’ Syllabus point 6, Wilt v. Buracker, 191 W. Va. 39,
443 S.E.2d 196 (1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1129, 114 S. Ct.
2139, 128 L. Ed. 2d 868 (1994).” Syllabus point 3, Craighead
v. Norfolk & Western Railway Company, 197 W. Va. 271, 475
S.E.2d 363 (1996).
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Syl. pt. 4, Coleman v. Sopher, 201 W. Va. 588, 499 S.E.2d 592 (1997). During the
underlying jury trial, Wal-Mart introduced evidence to support its theory of the case: that
Mr. Leist’s actions in running from its employees and through the store constituted an
unforeseeable intervening cause that proximately caused Ms. Ankrom’s injuries.
However, the trial court substituted its view of the evidence for that of the jury and
determined that Wal-Mart had not established its entitlement to this defense and, thus, that
an instruction on intervening cause was not warranted. Because, as the majority also
recognizes, in footnote 51 of its opinion, a trial court’s “refus[al] to instruct the jury on a
litigant’s theory of the case when it is supported by competent evidence prevents
consideration of that theory by the jury, and thus invites reversal,” Danco, Inc. v. Donahue,
176 W. Va. 57, 60, 341 S.E.2d 676, 679 (1985), I respectfully dissent from that portion of
the majority’s opinion affirming the trial court’s rejection of Wal-Mart’s intervening cause
jury instruction.
The primary issue presented to the jury in the underlying trial was a
determination of who was responsible for Ms. Ankrom’s injuries: Wal-Mart, Mr. Leist, or
Wal-Mart and Mr. Leist. To guide the jury’s determination of this issue, the trial court
instructed the jury on proximate cause and joint negligence, but it rejected Wal-Mart’s
intervening cause instruction. In doing so, the trial court usurped the jury’s role as the
finder of fact by substituting its own judgment for that of the jury when it found that the
facts did not support the giving of an intervening cause instruction. The trial court did so
despite the fact that Wal-Mart repeatedly argued and presented evidence at trial supporting
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its theory of the case that Mr. Leist’s actions were an intervening cause that proximately
caused Ms. Ankrom’s injuries. Evidence that the trial court usurped the jury’s
determination of the operative facts supporting Wal-Mart’s theory of the case is included
in the court’s amended post-trial order entered July 2, 2019, wherein it specifically stated
that “[t]he [c]ourt properly determined that the evidence failed to establish that Leist’s
conduct was an intervening cause[.]” This summation is disturbing because it suggests that
the trial court did not appreciate either the role of the jury or the function of its charge to
the jury during the underlying proceedings, particularly when this Court specifically has
stated that “determination of . . . intervening causation [is] [an] issue[] to be resolved by
the finder of fact,” here, the jury. Marcus v. Staubs, 230 W. Va. 127, 139, 736 S.E.2d 360,
372 (2012) (per curiam).
In a trial by jury, the jury is the ultimate finder of fact. Recognizing the
importance of this principle, this Court specifically has held that “‘[i]t is the peculiar and
exclusive province of the jury to weigh the evidence and to resolve questions of fact when
the testimony of witnesses regarding them is conflicting[.]’ Syllabus Point 2[, in part],
Graham v. Crist, 146 W. Va. 156, 118 S.E.2d 640 (1961).” Syl. pt. 2, Faris v. Harry Green
Chevrolet, Inc., 212 W. Va. 386, 572 S.E.2d 909 (2002) (per curiam). Accord Syl. pt. 3,
Toler v. Hager, 205 W. Va. 468, 519 S.E.2d 166 (1999) (“‘“‘Where, in the trial of an action
at law before a jury, the evidence is conflicting, it is the province of the jury to resolve the
conflict, and its verdict thereon will not be disturbed unless believed to be plainly wrong.’
Point 2, Syllabus, French v. Sinkford, 132 W. Va. 66[, 54 S.E.2d 38 (1948)].” Syllabus
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Point 6, Earl T. Browder, Inc. v. County Court [of Webster County], 145 W. Va. 696, 116
S.E.2d 867 (1960).’ Syllabus Point 2, Rhodes v. National Homes Corp., 163 W. Va. 669,
263 S.E.2d 84 (1979).”).
The trial judge’s charge to the jury, in turn, provides the jury with instructions
regarding the applicable law that serve to guide the jury’s consideration and analysis of the
facts. In other words,
[t]he purpose of instructing the jury is to focus its
attention on the essential issues of the case and inform it of the
permissible ways in which these issues may be resolved. If
instructions are properly delivered, they succinctly and clearly
will inform the jury of the vital role it plays and the decisions
it must make. . . . “Without [adequate] instructions as to the
law, the jury becomes mired in a factual morass, unable to draw
the appropriate legal conclusions based on the facts.”
State v. Guthrie, 194 W. Va. 657, 672, 461 S.E.2d 163, 178 (1995) (quoting State v. Miller,
194 W. Va. 3, 16 n.20, 459 S.E.2d 114, 127 n.20 (1995)) (footnote omitted). Thus, while
“[t]he jury is the trier of the facts[,] . . . ‘there is no presumption that they are familiar with
the law.’” State v. Lindsey, 160 W. Va. 284, 291, 233 S.E.2d 734, 739 (1977) (quoting
State v. Loveless, 139 W. Va. 454, 469, 80 S.E.2d 442, 450 (1954)).
Although a trial court is vested with discretion in formulating its charge to
the jury, such discretion does not permit the court to exclude an instruction that correctly
states the law applicable to the case, where such instruction is supported by the evidence
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adduced at trial, and is not otherwise covered in the jury’s charge. Appreciating this
concept, the majority held, in Syllabus point 11 of its opinion, as follows:
A trial court’s refusal to give a requested instruction is
reversible error only if: (1) the instruction is a correct statement
of the law; (2) it is not substantially covered in the charge
actually given to the jury; and (3) it concerns an important
point in the trial so that the failure to give it seriously impairs
a defendant’s ability to effectively present a given defense.
Syl. pt. 11, State v. Derr, 192 W. Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731 (1994). In the case presently
before the Court, it is quite apparent that Wal-Mart satisfied each of these factors when it
requested the trial court to instruct the jury on intervening cause. However, in affirming
the trial court’s ruling, the majority determined that these criteria had not, in fact, been met.
I disagree.
First, the requested instruction must be “a correct statement of the law.” Syl.
pt. 11, in part, Derr, id. The instruction Wal-Mart requested concerned intervening cause.
This Court has defined intervening cause as follows, which the majority also reiterated in
Syllabus point 8 of its opinion:
“‘“An intervening cause, in order to relieve a person
charged with negligence in connection with an injury, must be
a negligent act, or omission, which constitutes a new effective
cause and operates independently of any other act, making it
and it only, the proximate cause of the injury.” Syllabus Point
16, Lester v. Rose, 147 W. Va. 575, 130 S.E.2d 80 (1963)
[modified on other grounds by State ex rel. Sutton v.
Spillers, 181 W. Va. 376, 382 S.E.2d 570 (1989)].’ Syllabus
Point 1, Perry v. Melton, 171 W. Va. 397, 299 S.E.2d 8(1982).” Syl. Pt. 3, Wehner v. Weinstein, 191 W. Va. 149, 444
S.E.2d 27 (1994).
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Syl. pt. 8, Harbaugh v. Coffinbarger, 209 W. Va. 57, 543 S.E.2d 338 (2000) (per curiam).
In other words, “where the actions of one or more tortfeasors constitute an intervening
cause, such actions operate to break the chain of causation and relieve the remainder from
liability.” Marcus v. Staubs, 230 W. Va. at 139, 736 S.E.2d at 372. Cf. Syl. pt. 13,
Anderson v. Moulder, 183 W. Va. 77, 394 S.E.2d 61 (1990) (“A tortfeasor whose
negligence is a substantial factor in bringing about injuries is not relieved from liability by
the intervening acts of third persons if those acts were reasonably foreseeable by the
original tortfeasor at the time of his negligent conduct.”).
Here, Wal-Mart’s proffered intervening cause instruction provided as
follows:
Wal[-M]art claims that [it] [was] not the proximate
cause of Plaintiff, Diane Ankrom’s injuries and damages
because there was an intervening negligent act that caused the
injury and damages of Plaintiff.
Wal[-M]art is not responsible for Plaintiff[’]s injuries
and damages if it is proven, by the greater weight of the
evidence, all of the following:
1. That there was a new independent, negligent act or
omission of another party that occurred after the conduct of
Wal[-M]art; and
2. That the new independent, negligent act or omission
was a new, effective cause of the injury or damages, and
3. That the new independent, negligent act or omission
operating independently of anything else caused the injuries.
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Wal-Mart’s proposed intervening cause instruction substantially tracks the above-quoted
language of Syllabus point 8 of Harbaugh, 209 W. Va. 57, 543 S.E.2d 338, and, thus, Wal-
Mart’s requested, but refused, instruction on intervening cause was a correct statement of
the law.
Furthermore, while I agree with the proposition that
“‘“[a]n instruction should not be given when there is no
evidence tending to prove the theory upon which the
instruction is based.” Syl. pt. 4, Hovermale v. Berkeley Springs
Moose Lodge No. 1483, [165] W. Va. [689], 271 S.E.2d 335(1980).’ Syllabus point 3, Jenrett v. Smith, 173 W. Va. 325,
315 S.E.2d 583 (1983).” Syllabus point 4, Maples v. West
Virginia Department of Commerce[, Division of Parks and
Recreation], 197 W. Va. 318, 475 S.E.2d 410 (1996)[,]
Syl. pt. 3, Coleman v. Sopher, 201 W. Va. 588, 499 S.E.2d 592, those are not the facts of
the case sub judice. Here, there was ample evidence to support the trial court’s inclusion
of an intervening cause instruction in its charge to the jury. Moreover, while the majority
surmises that the plethora of judicial opinions involving facts similar to those herein
rendered the circumstances of Mr. Leist’s flight foreseeable so as to defeat an intervening
cause instruction, the majority neglects to realize that the Wal-Mart employees, as
laypersons, did not have the benefit of legal counsel during the exigencies of their brief,
and emergent, encounter with Mr. Leist on February 23, 2015. Therefore, Wal-Mart’s
proposed intervening cause jury instruction was a correct statement of the law and was
supported by the evidence such that the trial court’s failure to include this instruction in its
charge to the jury constitutes reversible error.
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Second, the requested instruction must be one that “is not substantially
covered in the charge actually given to the jury.” Syl. pt. 11, in part, Derr, 192 W. Va.
165, 451 S.E.2d 731. While Wal-Mart propounded its theory of intervening cause during
its presentation of its case during trial and in its closing arguments to the jury, the parties
do not dispute that Wal-Mart’s requested intervening cause instruction was not included in
the court’s charge to the jury—a fact the court also acknowledges in its amended post-trial
order.
Typically,
“[a] proper closing argument . . . involves the summation of
evidence, any reasonable inferences from the evidence, [and]
responses to the opposing party’s argument . . . .” [State v.
Guthrie, 194 W. Va. 657,] 628 n.27, 461 S.E.2d [162,] 184
n.27 [(1995)] (citing Coleman v. State, 881 S.W.2d 344 (Tex.
Crim. App. 1994)). To this end, while attorneys are given great
latitude in arguing their cases, “[i]t is equally well settled, that
counsel must keep within the evidence and not make
statements calculated to inflame the minds of jurors intending
to induce verdicts warped by prejudice.” State v. Kennedy, 162
W. Va. 244, 249, 249 S.E.2d 188, 191 (1978) . . . .
State ex rel. Games-Neely v. Yoder, 237 W. Va. 301, 310, 787 S.E.2d 572, 581 (2016)
(citation omitted). Thus, a party’s closing argument in a jury trial includes an appeal to the
jury to rule in that party’s favor, but it does not include a statement of the law with respect
to which the jury must render its verdict.
By contrast, a court’s charge to the jury encompasses the court’s instructions
to the jury as to the governing law and the jury’s determination of the issues in the case.
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See, e.g., State v. Williams, 206 W. Va. 300, 302-03, 524 S.E.2d 655, 657-58 (1999) (per
curiam) (explaining review of adequacy of jury charge as requiring consideration “‘not [of]
whether the jury charge was faultless in every particular but whether the jury was misle[d]
in any way and whether it had an understanding of the issues and its duty to determine
those issues’” (quoting State v. Hinkle, 200 W. Va. 280, 285, 489 S.E.2d 257, 262 (1996)));
Michael on Behalf of Estate of Michael v. Sabado, 192 W. Va. 585, 600, 453 S.E.2d 419,
434 (1994) (commenting that a challenged jury “instruction must be examined in light of
the entire jury charge”). Moreover, this Court expressly has distinguished between the
roles of closing arguments and a trial court’s charge to the jury, cautioning as follows:
We repeat here that due to the risk of misleading the
jury, a circuit court should refrain wherever possible from
gratuitously adding language to its charge that is not an
element of the claim or defense and that can better be presented
to the jury by way of closing argument.
Tennant v. Marion Health Care Found., Inc., 194 W. Va. 97, 117, 459 S.E.2d 374, 394
(1995).
The majority appears to suggest that, because Wal-Mart argued its
intervening cause theory during the trial of the case and advocated this defense to liability
during its closing argument, this factor of the Derr test is satisfied without an intervening
cause instruction. I disagree because a party’s closing argument clearly is not the same as,
nor is it a suitable substitute for, a trial court’s charge to the jury and the instructions set
forth therein. Therefore, I submit that the failure to give an intervening cause instruction,
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where this statement of the law was not otherwise included in the trial court’s instructions
to the jury, constitutes reversible error.
Third, the requested instruction must “concern[] an important point in the
trial so that the failure to give it seriously impairs a defendant’s ability to effectively present
a given defense.” Syl. pt. 11, in part, Derr, 192 W. Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731. The trial
court’s failure to give Wal-Mart’s intervening cause instruction in this case clearly
hampered Wal-Mart’s defense of this case. Not only was Wal-Mart foreclosed from
proceeding on alternate theories of the case, but the jury’s return of a verdict against Wal-
Mart provides substantial proof that its “ability to effectively present” its intervening cause
defense was “seriously impair[ed].” Syl. pt. 11, in part, Derr, id.At the outset it should be noted that Wal-Mart’s alternate theory of the case,
i.e. joint negligence, is not fatal to its simultaneous reliance on and request for an
intervening cause jury instruction. Rather, “[w]here there is competent evidence tending
to support a pertinent theory in the case, it is the duty of the trial court to give an instruction
presenting such theory when requested so to do.” Syl. pt. 7, State v. Alie, 82 W. Va. 601,
96 S.E. 1011 (1918). By the same token, instructions regarding alternate theories of
liability or defenses are permissible so long as they, again, correctly state the applicable
law. “‘Where conflicting theories of a case are presented by the evidence, each party is
entitled to have his view of the case presented to the jury by proper instructions.’ Syl.,
Morris v. Parris, 110 W. Va. 102, 157 S.E. 40 (1931).” Syl. pt. 2, Danco, Inc. v. Donahue,
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176 W. Va. 57, 341 S.E.2d 676. In fact, Rule 8(e)(2) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil
Procedure specifically allows a defendant to rely upon, and advance, alternative theories
of its defense to the claims asserted against it:
A party may set forth two or more statements of a . . .
defense alternately or hypothetically . . . . A party may also
state as many separate . . . defenses as the party has regardless
of consistency and whether based on legal or on equitable
grounds or on both.
Consequently, “a defendant generally is entitled to a jury charge that reflects any defense
theory for which there is a foundation in the evidence.” State v. LaRock, 196 W. Va. 294,
308, 470 S.E.2d 613, 627 (1996) (emphasis added; citations omitted).
“[I]ntervening cause is a recognized defense in this State,” Sydenstricker v.
Mohan, 217 W. Va. 552, 559, 618 S.E.2d 561, 568 (2005) (citation omitted), and “the
function of an intervening cause [is that of] severing the causal connection between the
original improper action and the damages.” Harbaugh v. Coffinbarger, 209 W. Va. at 64,
543 S.E.2d at 345. With specific application to the matter presently before the Court, “[t]he
questions of negligence, contributory negligence, proximate cause, intervening cause and
concurrent negligence are questions of fact for the jury where the evidence is conflicting
or when the facts, though undisputed, are such that reasonable men draw different
conclusions from them.” Syl. Pt. 2, Evans v. Farmer, 148 W. Va. 142, 133 S.E.2d 710(1963). This is so because “the jury, as the finders of fact, have the responsibility of
weighing the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses and resolving these
inconsistencies within the framework of the instructions given to them by the court.” State
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v. Houston, 197 W. Va. 215, 230, 475 S.E.2d 307, 322 (1996) (citation omitted).
Therefore, the ultimate determination of the issue of liability based upon the evidence
presented is reposed in the jury as the finder of fact, and, to achieve this end, “[i]n its role
as the ultimate fact-finder, the jury [i]s entitled to reach its own conclusions based upon
the evidence presented.” Bressler v. Mull’s Grocery Mart, 194 W. Va. 618, 622, 461
S.E.2d 124, 128 (1995) (citation omitted). Here, though, the trial court’s failure to give
Wal-Mart’s intervening cause instruction hampered the jury’s ability to make a full
assessment of each party’s responsibility for Ms. Ankrom’s injuries thus impeding Wal-
Mart’s ability to present an effective defense to the claims of liability asserted against it.
Moreover, the simple fact that the jury rendered a verdict against Wal-Mart
in this case, both as to liability and damages, strongly suggests that the jury’s consideration
of Wal-Mart’s intervening cause defense was “substantially impaired.” The trial court’s
failure to instruct the jury on this theory prevented it from considering Wal-Mart’s defense
that Mr. Leist’s actions served as an intervening cause that absolved it of liability for Ms.
Ankrom’s injuries. See Syl. pt. 11, in part, Derr, 192 W. Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731. In other
words, had the trial court properly instructed the jury regarding intervening cause, it is
conceivable that the jury could have considered Mr. Leist’s flight to be an intervening cause
responsible for Ms. Ankrom’s injuries, and, thus, no finding of liability against Wal-Mart
would have been rendered in the first instance. Instead, however, the jury’s decision in
this case speaks for itself—the trial court’s failure to give an intervening cause instruction
absolutely prevented the jury from considering this defense advanced by Wal-Mart. Given
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the substantial impairment of Wal-Mart’s ability to “effectively present” its defense as a
result of the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on intervening cause, Wal-Mart has
demonstrated grounds for reversal on this basis under Syllabus point 11 of Derr, 192
W. Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731.
In conclusion, this Court has recognized that “[o]ur law is clear that the
‘paramount function of the trial judge is to conduct trials fairly and to maintain an
atmosphere of impartiality.’” Herbert J. Thomas Mem’l Hosp. Ass’n v. Nutter, 238 W. Va.
375, 392, 795 S.E.2d 530, 547 (2016) (quoting McDonald v. Beneficial Standard Life Ins.
Co., 160 W. Va. 396, 398, 235 S.E.2d 367, 368 (1977)) (footnote omitted). Nevertheless,
the trial court overstepped these boundaries during the underlying proceedings and invaded
the province of the jury by precluding the jury from deciding whether Mr. Leist’s actions
were an intervening cause so as to render him exclusively liable for Ms. Ankrom’s injuries.
Because Wal-Mart’s proposed intervening cause instruction correctly stated the law and
was not otherwise covered by the trial court’s charge to the jury, and the instruction’s
omission from the jury charge hampered Wal-Mart’s ability to present its theory of the case
to the jury for its consideration, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s determination
that the circuit court committed no error by refusing the requested instruction. I am
authorized to state that Chief Justice Armstead joins me in this separate opinion.
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