Brooks v. San Francisco & North Pacific Railway Co.

42 P. 570, 110 Cal. 173, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 1036
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 26, 1895
DocketNo. 15871
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 42 P. 570 (Brooks v. San Francisco & North Pacific Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. San Francisco & North Pacific Railway Co., 42 P. 570, 110 Cal. 173, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 1036 (Cal. 1895).

Opinion

Searls, C.

This was an action to recover damages sustained by the infant plaintiff for personal injuries received while a passenger upon the railway train of the corporation defendant.

[174]*174The cause was tried before a jury and a verdict rendered in favor of plaintiff for five thousand dollars. Judgment was entered thereon February 26, 1894.

Defendant in due time moved for a new trial, which was granted “upon the payment by defendant to plaintiff of the sum of three hundred dollars for counsel fees and expenses necessarily incurred in said motion.” This order was made June 25, 1894.

On July 23, 1894, defendant gave notice of an appeal to this court from the order of the court below granting the new trial upon the condition specified in the order, and, on the same day, gave notice of an appeal from the final judgment entered in the cause February 26, 1894.

On June 25, 1894, plaintiff gave notice of an appeal to this court from the order of the court below granting the new trial. These appeals were all duly perfected, and are all based upon a single transcript.

The foregoing dates as to the entry of judgment and appeal therefrom are given for the purpose of showing that defendant’s appeal from the final judgment was not taken within sixty days after the rendition thereof, and hence, that under section 939 of the Code of Civil Procedure the sufficiency of the evidence to support such judgment cannot be reviewed on such separate appeal, and as upon the judgment-roll the judgment seems regular, we may dismiss from consideration the separate appeal therefrom, and turn our attentiob to the two appeals from the order granting a new trial.

The contention of the plaintiff is that to grant a new trial at all was error, and an abuse of the discretion lodged in the court, while the defendant bases its appeal upon the ground that it was clearly entitled upon the record to a new trial, and, therefore, that the condition imposed by the court below was erroneous.

1. As to the appeal by defendant.

That a nisi prius court has the power to impose terms as a condition of making an order for a new trial is too well settled to need argument in its support.

In Rice v. Gashirie, 13 Cal. 54, which in view of the [175]*175fact that the motion was founded upon errors of law ■occurring at the trial, and hence at first blush would seem not to have been a case involving turpitude on the part of the losing party, the court below granted a new trial upon condition that the moving party should pay the costs.

Upon an appeal by the moving party this court, speaking through Baldwin, J.j said: “ The terms upon which a court will grant a new trial are peculiarly a matter within its discretion. This must necessarily be so, for so many reasons relating to the conduct, management, and peculiar circumstances of the trial may exist that it would be impossible to prescribe any general rules on the subject. If error at law intervenes, a party may take his exceptions and prosecute his appeal without motion for a new trial; but if he makes his motion and relies upon that for redress against an improper verdict, he must subject himself to the equitable power of the court.

“ The verdict may have gone against him in some degree or wholly, by his own neglect or default, or even the rulings of law be chargeable to his own laches or want of diligence. In such cases it may be proper to grant him a new trial, yet only upon equitable terms. We cannot interfere with this exercise of discretion unless upon a clear showing that it has been abused, or that the terms were grossly unreasonable.”

In the present case the motion for a new trial was based, among others, upon the ground of the “ insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict.”

This is a ground appealing peculiarly to the discretion of the trial court. And wherever the conditions •■are such that the court below is authorized in its discretion to impose terms as a condition to granting a new trial, this court will interfere only in those cases where it manifestly appears that there has been an abuse of such discretion.

The following cases in this court recognize and upIhold the right of the trial court in one form and another [176]*176to impose terms and conditions in granting and refusing motions for new trials: Sherman v. Mitchell, 46 Cal. 578; Gillespie v. Jones, 47 Cal. 264; Chapin v. Bourne, 8 Cal. 294; Harrison v. Peabody, 34 Cal. 178; Dreyfous v. Adams, 48 Cal. 131; Benedict v. Cozzens, 4 Cal. 381; Cordor v. Morse, 57 Cal. 301; Gregg v. San Francisco etc. R. R. Co., 59 Cal. 312; Davis v. Southern Pac. Co., 98 Cal. 13.

In the case last cited the jury had found a verdict in favor of plaintiff for fifteen thousand three hundred dollars. Defendant moved for a new trial.

The trial court made an order that, if plaintiff should consent that the judgment be reduced to nine thousand dollars, the new trial would be denied, and that otherwise it would be granted. Plaintiff consented to the reduction, and the motion was thereupon denied. Defendant appealed from the order.

Counsel for appellant attacked the power of the court to make such an order, and contended that if the court thought the verdict excessive its duty was to grant a new trial.

This court, speaking through McFarland, J., after admitting that the position of appellant was a strong one, added: “But whatever might be considered the weight of reason and foreign authority on the question above stated, if it were res integra here, the right of a court to do what is complained of in the case at bar is too firmly established in this state by a long line of decisions to be now questioned.”

The principle involved in that case is the same as that underlying the present one, and goes to the power of the court to impose terms in granting and refusing motions for new trials.

A review of the record fails to disclose any basis for concluding that there was an abuse of discretion in imposing terms as a condition to granting the motion for a new trial. It follows that the order appealed from by defendant should be upheld.

2. As to the appeal of plaintiff from the order granting such new trial.

[177]*177The infant plaintiff, a young girl of the age of twelve and one-half years, a passenger on the 5 p. m. train of the defendant from Tiburón to San Rafael, on Sunday, July 6, 1890, seated in next to the rear car, and designing to stop at San Rafael, remained on board the train when it stopped at the regular station in said last-named city, supposing her car would be detached from the train a couple of blocks beyond said station, and that she could then and there leave the car at a point nearer her temporary home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 P. 570, 110 Cal. 173, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 1036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-san-francisco-north-pacific-railway-co-cal-1895.