Opinion
No. 92-C-2079.
November 20, 1992. Rehearing Denied December 21, 1992.
In re Dye, Robert; Dye, Robert, III; Dye, Lowell; — Plaintiff(s); applying for writ of certiorari and/or review; to the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, No. 91CA-1456; Parish of Orleans, Civil District Court, Div. "B", No. 85-01516.
Judgment of the Court of Appeal, is vacated and set aside. The jury instruction was an incorrect statement of the law under Harris v. Pizza Hut of Louisiana, Inc., (La. 1984) Since the jury was erroneously instructed and this error probably contributed to the verdict, the verdict must be set aside on appeal. Picou v. Ferrara, (La. 1986); Smith v. Travelers Ins. Co., (La. 1983). Such a finding "prohibits the reviewing Court's use of the manifest error rule when the jury's factual findings favorable to the prevailing party have been tainted." Picou,. Accordingly, the court of appeal in the present case erred in applying the manifest error rule to the jury's finding. The case is remanded to the court of appeal to make an independent determination of the facts from the record without according any weight whatsoever to the factual findings of the erroneously instructed jury. Gonzales v. Xerox Corp., (La. 1975).