Elaine Wiseman v. John J. Armstrong

Summary

The court held that the civil jury-polling rule imposes a mandatory duty on a trial court to poll the jury when a party timely requests it, but that a refusal to poll is subject to harmless-error review rather than automatic reversal. Because the record showed no indication of juror confusion, disagreement, coercion, or inconsistency, the plaintiff failed to demonstrate harm and the judgment for the defendants was affirmed. Rogers, C. J., joined by Katz, J., agreed that polling was mandatory but dissented from applying harmless-error review, concluding that harm from an unperformed poll cannot meaningfully be assessed.