Duffy v. Vogel

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals held that a litigant has an absolute right, upon request, to have a civil jury polled before the verdict is perfected. The trial court's failure to honor that request cannot be treated as harmless error because the polling is necessary to establish that the announced verdict reflects the individual jurors' intended verdict. The court reversed the Appellate Division and ordered a new trial.

Holdings

1. Under New York law, a party has an absolute right to have a civil jury polled upon timely request before the verdict is received and recorded, unless the right has been expressly waived.
2. The failure to poll a jury after a party has requested a poll can never be deemed harmless error in New York because polling is a necessary condition of a finished or perfected verdict.
3. Because the trial court denied plaintiff's absolute right to have the jury polled, the verdict had to be set aside and a new trial ordered.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a civil litigant has an absolute right, upon request, to have the jury polled before the verdict is received and recorded.
2. Whether a trial court's failure to honor a timely request for a jury poll may be deemed harmless error based on the verdict sheet, the unanimity announced by the foreperson, and the absence of any spontaneous juror protest.
3. Whether the unpolled verdict could be reinstated or otherwise treated as valid after the trial court set it aside.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded