Ankor Energy, LLC v. Kelly

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court reviewed a trial court's order granting the Kellys a new trial after a jury verdict for Ankor in an oil-and-gas drainage and waste dispute. The court held that the juror's handwritten statement was not a properly sworn affidavit and therefore should have been stricken; without it, the record did not establish juror misconduct or prejudice warranting a new trial. The opinion addresses the extraneous-information exception to Alabama Rule of Evidence 606(b) and standards for presumed or actual prejudice from juror misconduct.

Holdings

1. A juror affidavit may fall within Rule 606(b)'s exception for extraneous prejudicial information, but the handwritten statement was not a valid sworn affidavit because the juror was not placed under oath or otherwise informed before signing that she was swearing to its contents.
2. The circuit court abused its discretion by granting a new trial based on juror misconduct because, after the handwritten statement was stricken, the record did not show actual prejudice or prejudice as a matter of law.
3. The circuit court acted within its discretion in allowing Ankor's expert to answer a question concerning whether recoverable oil existed under the Kellys' property in 2010.
4. The Kellys were not entitled to a new trial on the ground that the verdict on their waste and contract claims was against the great weight of the evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the juror's handwritten statement was a valid sworn affidavit and admissible under Rule 606(b), Ala. R. Evid., to support a motion for a new trial based on extraneous juror information.
2. Whether the evidence established actual prejudice or prejudice as a matter of law from the juror's independent online research.
3. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion by allowing Ankor's expert to provide an opinion concerning recoverable oil in 2010 when the opinion had not been disclosed in precisely that temporal formulation.
4. Whether the jury's verdict on the Kellys' waste and contract claims was against the great weight of the evidence.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded