STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
LAWRENCE DAVID PHILLIPS, JR. NO. 2021 CW 1444
VERSUS
EXXON CHEMICAL LOUISIANA, MARCH 17, 2022
LLC, ET AL
In Re: Exxon Mobil Corporation, applying for supervisory
writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East
Baton Rouge, No. 691, 676.
BEFORE: GUIDRY, WELCH, HOLDRIDGE, CHUTZ, AND LANIER, JJ.
WRIT GRANTED. A party may not assign as error the giving
of a jury instruction unless he objects thereto either before
the jury retired to consider its verdict or immediately after
the jury retires, stating specifically the matter to which he
objects and the grounds of his objection. La. Code Civ. P. art.
1793( C). A district court' s reliance on improper jury
instructions in support of a grant of a new trial is " erroneous
as a matter of law" where the party in whose favor the new trial
was granted failed to object to the charge at trial. See Davis
v. Witt, 2002- 3102 ( La. 7/ 2/ 03), 851 So. 2d 1119, 1132, citing
La. Code Civ. P. art. 1793( C); see also Boylston v. Tidwell,
36, 730 ( La. App. 2d Cir. 8/ 22/ 03), 852 So. 2d 1256. The
plaintiffs in this case also failed to demonstrate that the jury
instructions misled the jury to the extent that it was prevented
from dispensing justice. See Adams v. Rhodia, Inc., 2007- 2110
La. 5/ 21/ 08), 983 So. 2d 798, 804 (" Determining whether an
erroneous jury instruction has been given requires a comparison
of the degree of error with the jury instructions as a whole and
the circumstances of the case."). Therefore, we grant this writ
application,
reverse the district court' s July 12, 2021 judgment
granting the plaintiffs' motion for new trial, and deny same.
JMG
GH
WIL
Welch and Chutz, JJ., dissent the
and would deny writ
application.
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
UOEPUTY FOR
CILAERK OF
THE COURT
COURT