Cornavaca v. Horwedel CA2/5
Plaintiffs Adolfo and Vera Cornavaca appeal from a judgment following a jury trial. Plaintiffs are the parents of Adolfo Cornavaca, Jr. (the decedent), whom defendant Mark Colby Horwedel struck and killed with his car. Plaintiffs sued defendant for negligence in the decedent’s wrongful death. The first jury trial resulted in a mistrial after plaintiffs’ opening statement. Following a second jury trial, the jury found defendant negligent, but, by a nine-to-three vote, found the negligence was not a substantial factor in the decedent’s death.
We agree with plaintiffs that they showed unrebutted evidence of juror misconduct resulting in prejudicial error due to a juror’s failure to deliberate, and thus we remand for a new trial. For the benefit of the trial court, we also address three evidentiary challenges that plaintiffs raise, as well as plaintiffs’ contentions that instructional error, juror misconduct, and attorney misconduct occurred.
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