Williams v. James

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

This appeal involves a personal injury-negligence case tried before a six-member jury, which by a vote of five to one returned a verdict of no-cause for action against the plaintiff. The Court is asked to decide whether a juror who voted that neither party was at fault and thus disagreed with the majority of jurors on the issue of negligence could nevertheless subsequently deliberate and vote on the issue of how to allocate percentages of fault between the parties for purposes of apportioning damages.

The case was initiated by an action…