Juries – Bias; Employment Relationship 

Posted: 1:00 am Mon, February 8, 2010
By admin
Tags: Juries

Where a child’s adoptive parents allege that the child’s injuries were the result of the treating physicians’ failure to report suspected child abuse after the child’s first visit to a medical facility in the company of her biological parents; one venire member was employed by the medical facility as a librarian and another, W.F., was married to an employee of the medical facility; and both the librarian and W.F. stated that they did not think their connections with the medical facility would affect their consideration of the case; we conclude that the District Court correctly determined that plaintiffs failed to establish a viable claim of juror bias because W.F. not subject to challenge for cause under Minn. R. Crim. P. 26.02, subd. 5,, plaintiffs demonstrated no actual bias, and plaintiffs did not object to the librarian’s and W.F.’s service until after the jury rendered its verdict.

We also conclude that the District Court did not err by submitting the issue of negligence to the jury.

Affirmed.