DeTunno v. Shull

75 Ohio Law. Abs. 602
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1956
DocketNos. 5291, 5292
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 75 Ohio Law. Abs. 602 (DeTunno v. Shull) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeTunno v. Shull, 75 Ohio Law. Abs. 602 (Ohio Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

OPINION

By FESS, J.

Two negligence actions were, by agreement, consolidated for trial. In case No. 5291, the minor plaintiff brought his action for damages for personal injury. In case No. 5292, the minor’s father sought damages for medical care, expense and loss of the child’s earnings. In each case the jury returned verdicts for the defendant.

Case No. 5291 is an appeal on questions of law taken by the defendant from an order of the court granting the minor plaintiff a new trial.

Case No. 5292 is an appeal on questions of law taken by the plaintiff from the judgment entered on the verdict for the defendant.1

The automobile in which the minor was a passenger in the rear seat, while stopped by a traffic light, was struck in the rear by the automobile driven by the defendant. Defendant admitted that the car in which the minor was a passenger was stopped by traffic; that defendant had had some beer and pleaded guilty to a charge of operating his motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor.

Upon first impression, it would appear that the jury was consistent in its verdicts for the defendant and that the court was inconsistent in granting the minor plaintiff a new trial and overruling his father’s motion for a new trial.

In the minor’s case, the assignments of error are:

1. The court abused its discretion in sustaining the motion of plaintiff-appellee for a new trial and in ordering the same.

2. The granting of the motion of plaintiff-appellee for a new trial is contrary to law.

3. The court erred in admitting evidence of plaintiff-appellee over the objection of defendant-appellant made at the time of offering such evidence.

Although the journal entry does not recite the grounds upon which the new trial was granted, in its opinion the court recites that “The verdict and judgment are contrary to the weight of the evidence.” Sec. 2321.17 (F) R. C. provides:

(F) That the final order, judgment or decree is not sustained by sufficient evidence or is contrary to law.”

[605]*605Although the ground for granting the new trial does not comport with the statutory ground, the terms “weight of evidence” and “sufficient evidence” have long been regarded as synonymous terms and used interchangeably. Brittain v. Industrial Comm., 95 Oh St 391, 396; Waldron v. New York Cent. Ry. Co., 106 Oh St 371, 377.

It is firmly established that notwithstanding the provisions of §2505.02 R. C„ an order vacating or setting aside a judgment and ordering a new trial is not a final order unless there was an abuse of discretion upon the part of the court in granting such motion. Green v. Acacia, etc., Co., 156 Oh St 1; Schwer v. New York, etc., Rd. Co., 156 Oh St 115; Johnson v. O’Hara, 156 Oh St 117; Mele v. Mason, 156 Oh St 118; Lawrence v. Moore, 156 Oh St 375; Schaible v. Cincinnati, 157 Oh St 512.

In the instant cases, since liability was practically admitted, it is apparent that the jury did not believe the testimony submitted in support of the plaintiffs’ claims and concluded that the minor was not injured or that such injury as he may now be suffering was not proximately caused by the negligence of the defendant. Defendant admitted that he was driving thirty to thirty-five miles per hour when the accident happened and that he struck the rear of the other car with such force as to damage the front grill and radius rod of his automobile. The minor was thrown off the seat onto the floor back of the front seat. The boy was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He was examined in the emergency room at the hospital within an hour or so after the accident and complained of “pain, right ear, after blow on side of head following auto accident.” The diagnosis was “contusion of scalp and pinna.”

It is thus apparent that plaintiff as a result of the collision sustained some, if slight, injury for which he would be entitled to at least nominal damages.

“For any injury done to the person or property of another, where the injury is immediate, upon the commission of an unlawful act, the person injured may have an action; and this, although the injury complained of is ideal, not real or substantial. * * * so, too, a person assaulted, although he has sustained no actual, or rather no real, substantial injury, may have his action. These principles are too well settled to be controverted.” Hitchcock, J., in Cooper v. Hall (1832), 5 Ohio 321.

“Abuse of discretion” in relation to the granting of a motion for a new trial connotes more than an error of law or of judgment; it implies an unreasonable, arbitrary or unconscionable attitude on the part of the court. Steiner v. Custer, 137 Oh St 448; State, ex rel. Shafer v. Ohio Turnpike Commission, et al., 159 Oh St 581. Upon the record on this appeal, we find no abuse of discretion. Therefore the appeal is not taken from a final order and should be dismissed.

With respect to appeal No. 5292, error is assigned to the display of motion pictures purporting to show the boy changing a wheel on an automobile some three years after the accident. The pictures were shown to refute the testimony of the boy that he was physically unable to change a tire. The photographer admitted that he had not taken moving [606]*606pictures before, that he received the camera from a detective agency and delivered the undeveloped films to the agency where the pictures had remained prior to trial. Appellant contends that the pictures should not have been shown because no adequate -foundation was established to prove their authenticity and accuracy.

Motion pictures are admissible in evidence, within appropriate discretion of the trial court, where their relevancy, authenticity and accuracy of portrayal are established by the laying of an adequate foundation. North American Aviation, Inc., v. United Automobile, etc., 69 Abs 242. The same principles that apply to the admission of still pictures should apply to the admission of moving pictures, with the possible exception that precaution should be exercised to guard against distortion due to variations in the speed at which a projector is run and otherwise with respect to operation and focus. In Ohio and elsewhere, Photographs are admissible in evidence when they appear to have been accurately taken and are proven to be an accurate representation of the subject. • Preliminary proof should be made that the object or person which is the subject of the photographs is fairly represented. Necessarily, some discretion is reposed in the court in passing upon the preliminary proof and determining whether the photograph has been sufficiently verified and is pertinent to an issue. The weight to be given to such evidence is of course for the jury. 17 O. Jur., p. 580. Cf. Senn v. Lackner, 81 Oh Ap 83. The general rule has always been that photographs may be offered to identify a person, or to show his physical condition and appearance, when it has been shown that the photograph is reasonably accurate, Smith v. Cincinnati Tr. Co., 24 N. P. N. S. 565, and if it becomes pertinent, in order to make out a case, to prove ability, prior to an injury, to perform certain difficult feats of personal ability and skill, pictures or diagrams which are proven correctly to represent the feats are admissible. Cincinnati, etc R. Co. v. DeOnzo, 87 Oh St 109.

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Bluebook (online)
75 Ohio Law. Abs. 602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/detunno-v-shull-ohioctapp-1956.