Allen v. Voje

89 N.W. 924, 114 Wis. 1, 1902 Wisc. LEXIS 128
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 89 N.W. 924 (Allen v. Voje) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. Voje, 89 N.W. 924, 114 Wis. 1, 1902 Wisc. LEXIS 128 (Wis. 1902).

Opinion

Dodge, J.

Numerous specific assignments of error are alleged and argued. They will be considered in the order of their presentation.

1. The contention of appellant that error was committed in refusing to remand the present case to the circuit court after the trial had been completed and the verdict rendered is wholly untenable. -It is predicated alone upon the fact that no written order directing the change from circuit to county court was signed hy the judge. The records of the circuit court disclose that in open court the affidavit and motion for such change were presented, and “change of venue ordered to the county court August 28th.” This was a complete compliance with sec. 2625, Stats. 1898, which commands that upon the affidavit and motion “the court shall change the place of trial,” and after waiting, in his discretion, to secure [8]*8another judge, on the last day of the term “an order for a change of the place of trial shall be entered.” An order or judgment is the decision of the court. It may be formulated in writing by the judge, or declared by him orally. In the latter event the duty rests upon the clerk to write the substance upon his records. That was done in this case, and thereupon the order became entered as completely as if written out by the judge himself and signed by him. Baker v. Baker, 51 Wis. 538, 8 N. W. 289; Harris v. Snyder, 113 Wis. 4-51, 89 N. W. 660. The writing is, at most, the.evidence of the decision in fact rendered. Findlay v. Knickerbocker I. Co. 104 Wis. 375, 378, 80 N. W. 136. Another answer to appellant’s contention consists in the fact that he did not make his objection in time. Sec. 2628, Stats. 1898, provides :

“After the place of trial . . . shall have been changed and a trial had in the county to which the change was made, the proceedings or order for such change shall be conclusive except as against such objections as shall have been filed in writing upon a motion to remand before such trial was entered upon.”

This statute is obviously intended to cure all defects, and to impose upon a party conclusive presumption of waiver of all objection, and consent to the change, unless he objects in writing before entering upon the trial.

2. We hardly understand the objection to the competency of Drs. Goette and Peck as medical experts. They both testified that they held licenses from the state medical board; and, further, Dr. Goette testified that he was a graduate holding a diploma from a regularly incorporated medical college at a time when that alone would suffice to qualify him to testify. True, the language of Dr. Peck’s testimony as to his qualification was, “I am a physician and surgeon duly licensed to practice in this state.” It perhaps contains an element of conclusion, but in the absence of anything controverting it, [9]*9or any cross-examination, it must be' understood to mean that he has received a license.. It is suggested that sec. 4, ch. 87, Laws of 1899, requires physicians holding licenses to procure them to be recorded in the counties where they are to practice; but the only penalty for a failure so to do is prescribed by the same act, and is not an exclusion from the privilege of testifying as experts. That right or privilege, is limited only by sec. 1436, Stats. 1898, which contains no such requirement. Schaeffer v. State, 113 Wis. 595, 89 N. W. 481.

3. Complaint is made of a very extended hypothetical question which was propounded to substantially all of the plaintiff’s medical experts. The objections to it now urged are that it contained the statement that on the 5th, 6th, and 7th days after curettement, plaintiff’s temperature rose to 102.6, and that during the same period she suffered severe pains in the region of her right ovary. It is insisted that this was not in accordance with the evidence, and therefore was misleading to the jury, and rendered the question improper. We find the head nurse, Mrs. Green, testified that at this time “her temperature was 102, and I think 102.6”; and the defendant himself, in his direct examination, speaks of that as the maximum attained during this period. We also find that the plaintiff repeatedly testified that during this period she suffered extreme pain in the region of her ovaries and on the right side. So both of these elements of the objected question had support in the evidence. Whether there are other inaccuracies, either of commission or omission, in this extended hypothetical question, it is not the duty of the court to investigate and ascertain., Those that the appellant points out do not exist. The appellant hardly stands in any position to complain of this question, in any event. When he made the objection thereto upon the trial, the plaintiff’s attorney invited him to suggest any inaccurate statement contained therein, or any proper fact omitted, offering to make due correction. This the defendant’s attorney refused to do. Such [10]*10conduct should ordinarily preclude counsel from thereafter-predicating error upon a hypothetical question on the grounds-now urged. Cornell v. State, 104 Wis. 527, 535, 80 N. W. 745; Davey v. Janesville, 111 Wis. 628, 633, 87 N. W. 813.

A further objection is somewhat indefinitely made, that certain experts were called on to pass upon the credibility of evidence. We have carefully examined the testimony complained of, and find no support for the objection. In every case, either the question is free from that objection, or the-counsel is urging our attention to testimony related in narrative, which obviously was never given in response to the-printed and objected question. Thus, of Dr. Madden it was-asked if it was proper practice to allow the patient to leave-the sanitarium or hospital, and go to her home, without informing her or her relatives of the true condition of the localized pus or abscess. This was after he had been examined upon a hypothetical state of facts, and had expressed the-opinion that there was such localized pus. Obviously, the question is open to no other construction than that of referring to the situation as to which he had already testified. Uncompleted his answer to that question by saying, “It should have been done.” Some lines further on, after speaking of' other subjects, he is made to say, in narrative, “I think, beyond a doubt, the evidence points to an abscess.” It is absurd for appellant to urge to judges who have themselves participated in trials, and in the make-up of bills of exceptions, that this statement was given in response to the objected question. If it was, it was not responsive, and would not make the question erroneous; and counsel, if he would save an objection thereto, must have moved to strike it out, which he did not do. The objected question to Dr. Brown, as to how long it would require for the abscess to attain a certain size, is expressly-predicated upon a hypothetical statement of facts, and the-physician’s answer is, “From five to eight or ten weeks, perhaps.” This completes the whole answer responsive to that [11]*11question, and in narrative form the witness then states that he thinks the foregoing facts show the existence of pus in the patient’s right ovarian region. Of course, this was in response to another question, to which no objection appears to have been made. Other questions to Dr. Brown, and his answers, which were argued at some length, present the same situation.

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Bluebook (online)
89 N.W. 924, 114 Wis. 1, 1902 Wisc. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-voje-wis-1902.