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HOBBIEBRUNKEN v. G & S ENTERPRISES5/15/1991
ishing the defendant's knowledge. The district court's instructions adequately explained these standards to the jury. The court was correct in refusing plaintiff's requested instruction.
III. Admission of Evidence.
Plaintiff urges that the district court abused its discretion in admitting certain testimony by Janine Alcorn, a waitress at the Waterfront. Plaintiff contends the testimony should have been excluded under rule 403 of the Iowa Rules of Evidence, which permits the exclusion of relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. The testimony complained of was that Alcorn tended to avoid Hobbiebrunken as much as possible because he once offered her a drink and asked if she wanted to go for a ride in his Corvette. We cannot say the court abused its discretion in ruling that the probative value of this evidence, bearing on the reasonableness of Alcorn's conduct, was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.
IV. Juror Misconduct.
Plaintiff filed juror affidavits in support of her motion for a new trial. She urges that extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention. These affidavits suggest that some members of the jury, after looking at plaintiff's recent tax returns and other financial information, decided that plaintiff and her children would be able to get along without recovery in a lawsuit. The affidavits also indicate that the jury speculated that plaintiff was receiving social security benefits for the children. The affidavits also stated that at least some jurors considered that the Waterfront would have risked losing a good customer if it had refused to serve Hobbiebrunken that night and that he was probably trying to pick up one of the college women. The district court denied the motion for a new trial.
Under rule 606(b) of the Iowa Rules of Evidence, juror affidavits may not be received concerning the jury's deliberations unless it deals with "the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror." The key distinction to be made is between the internal workings of the jury and external pressures brought to bear on the decision-making process. Ryan v. Arneson, 422 N.W.2d 491, 495 (Iowa 1988). Here, none of the juror conduct of which plaintiff complains involved any extraneous information. Jurors are incompetent to testify to any of the "components of deliberation including juror arguments, statements, discussions, mental and emotional reactions, votes, and any other features of the process occurring in the jury room." Ryan, 422 N.W.2d at 495.
V. Failure to Disclose Possible Witness.
Among the interrogatories which plaintiff served on defendant before trial was one which asked for the names of "all people who saw and conversed with" decedent on the night of his death and another which asked for the identity of anyone with [470 NW2d Page 23]
knowledge of his consumption of alcohol while at the Waterfront. In its answers to the interrogatories the defendant listed two patrons who were present that night in addition to the four women with whom Hobbiebrunken arrived. Defendant did not list the name of Max Clausen. At trial, Myrna Barlas, the bartender at the Waterfront on the night of the accident, testified that Max Clausen had been present at the bar that night and that he had asked her who Hobbiebrunken was.
Plaintiff does not claim that Clausen conversed with Hobbiebrunken or that he had any knowledge of Hobbiebrunken's consumption of alcohol; thus Cl
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