Callahan v. Buck Hill Inn & Golf Club

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

Callahan v. Buck Hill Inn & Golf Club

65 A.D.2d 597, 409 N.Y.S.2d 416, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 13272

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedOctober 23, 1978

StatusPublished

This text of 65 A.D.2d 597 (Callahan v. Buck Hill Inn & Golf Club) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Callahan v. Buck Hill Inn & Golf Club, 65 A.D.2d 597, 409 N.Y.S.2d 416, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 13272 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1978).

Pincite

Opinion

In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, entered March 10, 1977, which is in favor of the defendants against said plaintiffs, upon a jury verdict, at a trial on the issue of liability only. Judgment affirmed, with costs. Plaintiff Barbara Callahan sustained injuries in an accident which occurred while she was a guest at the defendant inn. It happened while she was ice skating at the inn’s rink. Her claim was that the ice in the rink was in a defective and dangerous condition and that the defendants had actual or constructive notice of this. The jury arrived at a general verdict for the defendants and we find no reason for disturbing it since a pure question of fact was involved. We note, however, our disapproval of the practice indulged in by the Trial Judge in his charge, of telling the members of the jury that he was reading to them from headnotes of appellate court decisions which had determined the issues before them. Such a practice is improper because it could have the effect of unduly impressing a jury with the superiority of the factual or legal position of one party to the litigation to the detriment of the other. Latham, J. P., Suozzi, Gulotta, Shapiro and Cohalan, JJ., concur.

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In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, entered March 10, 1977, which is in favor of the defendants against said plaintiffs, upon a jury verdict, at a trial on the issue of liability only. Judgment affirmed, with costs. Plaintiff Barbara Callahan sustained injuries in an accident which occurred while she was a guest at the defendant inn. It happened while she was ice skating at the inn’s rink. Her claim was that the ice in the rink was in a defective and dangerous condition and that the defendants had actual or constructive notice of this. The jury arrived at a general verdict for the defendants and we find no reason for disturbing it since a pure question of fact was involved. We note, however, our disapproval of the practice indulged in by the Trial Judge in his charge, of telling the members of the jury that he was reading to them from headnotes of appellate court decisions which had determined the issues before them. Such a practice is improper because it could have the effect of unduly impressing a jury with the superiority of the factual or legal position of one party to the litigation to the detriment of the other. Latham, J. P., Suozzi, Gulotta, Shapiro and Cohalan, JJ., concur.

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Bluebook (online)

65 A.D.2d 597, 409 N.Y.S.2d 416, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 13272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/callahan-v-buck-hill-inn-golf-club-nyappdiv-1978.