Dongo v. Banks

On December 8, 1977, a Cumberland County jury returned a defendant’s verdict in the instant products liability litigation. Following the dismissal of the jury, counsel for plaintiff Dongo informed the Court that it had come to his attention that without counsels’ knowledge, the jury had been given access to a dictionary. 1 The presiding Justice immediately recalled the jury and over defendant Holcomb’s strenuous objection, elicited from the jury foreman the fact that a dictionary had been present in the juryroom and that it had been used to help define the term “proximate.” 2 Once that…