Bates v. Kitchel

132 N.W. 459, 166 Mich. 695, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 582
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1911
DocketDocket No. 73
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 132 N.W. 459 (Bates v. Kitchel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bates v. Kitchel, 132 N.W. 459, 166 Mich. 695, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 582 (Mich. 1911).

Opinion

Ostrander, C. J.

A judgment rendered for the defendant upon a former trial of this cause was reversed and a new trial granted. Bates v. Kitchel, 160 Mich. 403 (125 N. W. 684). There has been another trial, resulting in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $750. The former opinion of this court states somewhat fully the genesis of this action. It is sufficient to say here that the plaintiff was a witness for the people in a certain criminal proceeding instituted against defendant, in which proceeding defendant was found guilty in justice’s court in the city of Coldwater and appealed to the circuit court. Defendant made an application to a circuit court commissioner in which he recited his conviction and appeal, asked for and procured an order directed to the sheriff of the county to bring plaintiff before the commissioner to show cause why he should not be required to enter into a recognizance to appear in the circuit court, to be held some months later, to testify. It is stated in the said petition of defendant that plaintiff resides in California, intends to return there, and that the railroad fare and expenses of a [697]*697journey from California to Cold water and return is about $300. After a hearing, the commissioner ordered plaintiff to enter into a recognizance, with one sufficient surety, in the sum of $500, for his personal appearance at the next October term of the circuit court, and in default, to be committed to prison to remain until he complied with the order or was lawfully discharged. Plaintiff declined to give the recognizance, and the justice of the peace committed him. Plaintiff gave a jail limits bond and was later discharged in habeas corpus proceedings. The authority of the magistrate to commit the witness was denied in the former decision of this court. At the trial defendant offered no testimony and requested the court to direct a verdict for defendant. The exceptions relied upon in this court are:

(1) To the ruling refusing a directed verdict for defendant.
(2) To the order denying the motion for a new trial.
(3) To rulings admitting certain testimony to show damages prior to the commitment.
(4) To a ruling permitting plaintiff to amend his declaration.
(5) To a ruling admitting evidence of certain habeas corpus proceedings and the expense thereof.
(6) To a ruling admitting in evidence the docket entries in the criminal case.
(7) And to refusals to charge as requested and to the charge as given.

1. The order of the circuit court commissioner requiring plaintiff to enter into the recognizance — to give bail — was not an unlawful order, although incapable of enforcement. Bates v. Kitchel, supra. That part of the same order which required plaintiff to be committed for default or refusal to enter into the recognizance was a nullity. Id. Appellant seeks to divide the order in this way and asks us to rule that, because plaintiff might have given the recognizance, but deliberately and wilfully refused to do so, it is his disobedience of that portion of the order, and not the enforcement of the remainder thereof, which [698]*698brought about the results of which he complains, for which reason he ought not to be permitted to recover. This is the argument advanced in support of the motion for a directed verdict. It fails to take into account the fact that the testimony tends to prove that the effort to compel plaintiff to appear as a witness in the circuit court was a single one, conceived in malice; that defendant sued out and was instrumental in enforcing the order as made. Defendant was charged with driving an automobile at an unlawful rate of speed. Plaintiff, temporarily in the vicinity, on a visit, was a witness for the people. It is impossible to conceive of a proper motive of defendant for requiring him to return to Coldwater, from California, to give testimony on the trial of the appeal.

2. The first ground asserted for a new trial is the argument of one of the counsel for the plaintiff, in which argument it is claimed an incorrect measure of damages was stated to the jury and counsel appealed to the prejudices of the jury. Counsel for plaintiff said in his argument to the jury, in the course of which he was interrupted by counsel for the defendant with numerous announcements of exceptions to his remarks, among other things:

“Now, that is not the absolute test; but I apprehend you have got a right to take into consideration what you would think that you were entitled to under the circumstances. . You have got a right to consider that, gentlemen of the jury, what you would think it had damaged you, your feelings, if you had been subjected to that. There is no other way that you can get at it.”

And much more to the same effect, to which he added:

“That is the law, gentlemen of the jury, and the court, if he tells you anything about it, will tell you so.
The Court: I think when they get there, Mr. Lyon, they have got to find out what the damage is to him, not what it is to them, or would be to them.
Mr. Lyon: I say they have got a right to take it into consideration in determining that, and I stated that that would not be the absolute rule, but they have got a right to take that into consideration.
[699]*699“ Mr. Barlow: We take particular exception to the remark of counsel that a certain thing is the law regardless of what the court charges.
The Court: The jury must take the law from the court and not from counsel.
Mr. Lyon: As I stated to you, gentlemen of the jury, it is not what you would charge to be subjected to that— no, no, that is not it, because, if you were to be asked how much you would charge to be subjected to that humiliation, you would say, I wouldn’t do it at all for all that Horace Kitchel has got — but you have got a right to take that into consideration, what you think it would injure your feelings.”

Upon the other side, it is contended that the argument was a proper argument, and, in any event, that appellant is not in a position to raise the question of its propriety. Concerning the last proposition, counsel relies upon Maclean v. Scripps, 52 Mich. 214, 222, 223 (17 N. W. 815, 18 N. W. 209); Mayo v. Wright, 63 Mich. 32 (29 N. W. 832); Henry C. Hart Manfg. Co. v. Car Co., 65 Mich. 564 (32 N. W. 820); Pierson v. Railroad Co., 149 Mich. 167 (112 N. W. 923); Miller v. Lachman, 117 Mich. 68 (75 N. W. 284); Formiller v. Railway, 164 Mich. 653 (130 N. W. 347) — all of which are cases holding that remarks of counsel supposed to be objectionable should be called to the attention of the court in such a manner as to secure a ruling thereon at the time they are made, and that this court will not sit in review on questions when it appears that they were not passed upon or a ruling asked in the court below. In Mayo v. Wright, supra, it was said:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 N.W. 459, 166 Mich. 695, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-kitchel-mich-1911.