City of El Monte v. Superior Court of L.A. Cty.

In this original proceeding, we hold that when a plaintiff obtains a verdict entitling him to punitive damages, but allows the jury to be discharged without presenting evidence relevant to the amount of punitive damages, the court may not “reconvene another jury” to consider that evidence.

Facts and Procedural History

The relevant facts necessary to this opinion, briefly stated, are as follows:

On March 22, 1994, the jury rendered its verdict, finding that Officer States had committed a battery upon Mr. Bullen, had used excessive force, and had acted with “malice, oppression or fraud” so as to warrant the imposition of punitive damages against her. The jury awarded Mr. Bullen $30,000 in compensatory damages against the City and Officer States. The jury found no liability on the part of Officer Mendoza and found in defendants’ favor as to Mrs. Bullen’s claims.

Since the trial judge was unavailable at the time the verdict was rendered, the verdict was taken by another judge. After the verdict was read, the court asked if there were “any other matters before we discharge the jury?” Plaintiffs’ counsel responded, “I would inquire if the jurors would like to talk to any…

In my view, defendants have waived the statutory right to have punitive damages tried to the same jury which determined her liability, by failing to object to the discharge of the jury prior to the punitive damage phase of the trial. Plaintiff is entitled to present his evidence on the amount of punitive damages. This issue is controlled by our Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Saunders (1993) 5 Cal.4th 580 [ 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638 , 853 P.2d 1093 ]. In Saunders , a criminal defendant was held to have waived his statutory right to have prior felony conviction allegations tried to the same jury which determined his guilt of the underlying offenses in a bifurcated trial, by failing to object to the discharge of the jury before trial on the prior felony conviction allegations.

The facts in this case are not in dispute. Rudy Lee Bullen and Esther Maria Bullen sued the City of El Monte and two of its police officers, George Mendoza and Michelle States, for personal injuries. Plaintiffs sought compensatory damages against all defendants and punitive damages against the police officers. Upon the pretrial request of the defense, evidence of the police officers’ financial condition was…

R. Samuel Paz, David A. Xavier and Francisco A. Suarez for Real Party in Interest.

OPINION

ARMSTRONG, J.

In this original proceeding, we hold that when a plaintiff obtains a verdict entitling him to punitive damages, but allows the jury to be discharged without presenting evidence relevant to the amount of punitive damages, the court may not "reconvene another jury" to consider that evidence.

The relevant facts necessary to this opinion, briefly stated, are as follows:

Rudy Lee Bullen and Esther Bullen sued the City of El Monte and two of its police officers, George Mendoza and Michelle States, for compensatory and punitive damages. Prior to trial, the court granted defendants' application, pursuant to Civil Code section 3295, subdivision (d). [1] That section affects the order of proof at trial, precluding the admission of evidence of defendants' financial condition until after the jury has returned a verdict for plaintiffs awarding actual damages and found that one or more defendants were guilty of "oppression, fraud or malice," in accordance with Civil Code section 3294.

On March 22, 1994, the jury rendered its verdict, finding that Officer States had committed a battery…