MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) – There will be no new trial for a day care facility where a two-year-old boy’s skull was crushed by an unsecured television that fell on him while he napped.
The June 5 ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court leaves intact a $30.3 million jury verdict in favor of the boy’s parents despite allegations of juror misconduct. Perfect Place Christian Academy’s lack of insurance and a release of its responsibility to pay because of its bankruptcy mean the Dailey family will never collect the verdict, though.
Despite that, the day care's owner still sought a new trial and claimed improper Googling on the part of one juror.
“The extraneous information improperly accessed by a juror during deliberations did not taint the jury’s verdict because the trial court made an adequate investigation following the discovery of the misconduct and took appropriate curative measures, and there is no evidence indicating that the extraneous information actually prejudiced the verdict,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote for the unanimous court.
In 2015, the TV fell on Christian Dailey’s head, crushing parts of his skull and putting him on a ventilator for nine days. This caused developmental issues for the boy.
Resurrection of Life ran Perfect Place as an unlicensed church-exempt facility and did not have general liability insurance. The Daileys sued and were granted summary judgment, leaving a jury to decide the amount of damages they were owed.
Bankruptcy complicated the matter, and the Daileys, who asked for $50 million, agreed that the verdict would be subject to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court.
Jurors were told not to conduct any outside research during deliberations, but one of them Googled a specific word not identified in the record. The day care moved for a mistrial.
Asked by the judge, one juror responded "there was a word that came up and they Googled the meaning of the word, what that word means, I remember that happening. It was a word. That's the only thing I know. That was it."
Only five of the 12 jurors remembered what word it was. Satisfied, the trial judge allowed deliberations to continue, leading to the $30 million verdict.
The Supreme Court found that the juror’s search of a definition for a medical term did not impact the verdict.
“It is clear that the trial court in this case conducted a timely and reasonable investigation of the alleged misconduct and took appropriate steps to cure it,” Justice Mitchell wrote.