463 So. 2d 533 - Sydleman v. Benson

How this case has been cited

Cited by 26 later decisions — most recently April 2011 · most notably 538 So. 2d 486 - Price v. State (1989), Williams v. State (1994)

26 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

¶1J. Blayne Jennings of Law Office of J. Blayne Jennings, Gifford, for appellant.

¶2Everett J. VanGaasbeck of Moss, Henderson & Lloyd, Vero Beach, and Marjorie Gadarian Graham of Jones & Foster, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellees.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4We affirm the final judgment and write only to express concern as to the trial court's action in rejecting appellant's challenge for cause of two jurors who had been patients of a physician-expert witness called by the appellee doctor. Upon review of the entire colloquy between the jurors, the judge and the lawyers, we conclude that the judge acted within his discretion in denying the challenge for cause. General Foods Corp. v. Brown,419 So.2d 393 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). However, the impartiality of the finders of fact is an absolute prerequisite to our system of justice. Close cases should be resolved in favor of excusing the juror rather than leaving a doubt as to his or her impartiality.

¶5ANSTEAD, C.J., and DOWNEY and HURLEY, JJ., concur.