Doty v. Postal

49 N.W. 534, 87 Mich. 143, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 757
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 49 N.W. 534 (Doty v. Postal) 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
Doty v. Postal, 49 N.W. 534, 87 Mich. 143, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 757 (Mich. 1891).

Opinion

Long, J.

This is an action brought in the circuit court for the county of Osceola by Elizabeth Doty as plaintiff, against Wellington Postal, Frank S. Postal, and Orville M. Bush as defendants, to recover damages sustained by her to her means of support, occasioned by the death of her husband, Frank Doty, which death was [144]*144caused by the intoxication of Seymour Bailey and others at the saloon of defendant Wellington Postal. Seymour Bailey, while so intoxicated, shot and killed the husband of plaintiff. The action is based upon section 20, Act No. 313, Laws of 1887 (3 How. Stat. § 2283 e 3). The defendant Wellington Postal is the principal, and Frank S. Postal and Orville M. Bush, the other two defendants, are sureties upon his liquor bond, which bond bears date the 26th day of May, A. D. 1888, and is executed, duly approved, and filed in conformity with the statute. The intoxication and death occurred on or about the 6th day of April, A. H. 1889, at which time the said defendant Wellington Postal was the keeper of a saloon in the village of Evart, and was doing business under the bond sued upon.

It is claimed by counsel for the plaintiff that the proofs tend to show that on the evening of tht 6th day of April, 1889, Seymour Bailey, George Bailey, Harvey Smith, James Curry, and James Powell, who resided in and around the village of Sears (a small place lying three miles east of Evart), came to Evart, and were together during that evening, and purchased and drank liquor at defendant Postal's saloon and at other places-in Evart. About 10 o’clock that evening these parties-from Sears finally congregated on Main street of the village of Evart, near a mill where the F. & P. M. Railroad track crosses the street east and west; Main street running north and south, the mill standing on the east-side of Main street, facing the west. While these five boys were engaged in a noise and disturbance, the plaintiff's husband and some other parties, who were at that time, in a hotel which was situated on the west side of Main street, and some distance north from where this Sears crowd had congregated, having their attention attracted by the noise, came out of the hotel, went [145]*145across the street, and down where this crowd was. The railroad track before mentioned leads east from Evart through Sears, said track being the usual route taken by these boys going home. As they saw these parties coming across the street from the hotel, the Sears party started up the track east towards home, Seymour Bailey, the person who shot plaintiffs husband, and George Bailey, remaining behind the rest; and when the plaintiffs husband and Seymour Bailey met or came together, Bailey shot and killed plaintiffs husband. He fired two shots at him in rapid succession, only a second or two intervening, one of which entered the cheek of deceased just below the eye, passing through the brain, lodging against the skull, causing his immediate death;

It was claimed by the defense that Bailey was hit by the deceased in the face on their first coming together, and the theory of the defense was that Bailey shot and killed plaintiffs husband in self-defense; that Doty, the deceased, was the aggressor in the affray, and, he (Doty) being the aggressor, the plaintiff could not recover, even though Bailey was drunk at the time of the shooting; while the plaintiff's theory was that Bailey was the aggressor, and not Doty; and, further, that it made no difference whether Bailey or Doty was the aggressor, — if Bailey was intoxicated at the time of the shooting, and became intoxicated, in whole or in part, from liquors procured at the defendant's saloon, then a right of action had accrued in favor of the plaintiff; and, further, that the plaintiff was entitled to go to the jury on the questions of fact presented in the case, whether the drunkenness of Bailey was the cause of the shooting and death, and whether there was any connection between the intoxication of -.Bailey and the shooting of Doty, and whether the same thing would have happened had Bailey not been [146]*146intoxicated, and whether the shooting of Doty was in any manner traceable to the intoxication of Bailey.

About five hours after the shooting an officer arrested Bailey at his home, which was about five miles from Evart, and found in his pocket a revolver, and a large stone the size of a man's fist.

At the time plaintiff's husband was shot and killed he was 23 years of age, sound, healthy, and industrious, and was plaintiff's only means of support.

After the plaintiff had rested her case, the court held that there could be no recovery in the case as against the sureties on the bond, for the reason that the plaintiff had not shown that Bailey was a person in the habit of getting intoxicated, and therefore the sale of the liquor to him was not an unlawful sale, and would not raise a liability against the sureties. The court also held that Doty was the aggressor, and for that reason the plaintiff could not recover. The defendants offered no testimony in the case,, but at the close of the plaintiff's proofs also rested their case.

It appears from the record that the plaintiff offered upon several occasions during the progress of the trial to show that Seymour Bailey, who killed the plaintiff's husband, was a person in the habit of getting intoxicated, but was not permitted to make this proof, the court holding that, unless he was intoxicated upon the night in question by liquors procured at defendant Postal’s saloon, the fact that he was a person in the habit cf getting intoxicated Avas wholly immaterial. The court stated in this connection that—

“The case might arise where the mere fact that he was in the habit of getting intoxicated would support an action. In this case the gist of the action is the death of this man. You claim the loss of support by reason of his death purely and simply, and nothing else arising [147]*147from the sale of liquor by the defendant to this man who did the killing. There is the proposition, clear enough. Before you can recover you must show, first; that the liquor was furnished by the defendant to this man w.ho did the killing; and, second, that he was intoxicated at that time, and, by means of it, he took that man's life by reason of it; and then the consequential damages."

The court for this reason expressed the opinion that no recovery could be had against the sureties upon the bond. The court did not rest the case wholly upon this question in directing the jury to return a verdict in favor of the defendants. He charged the jury further as follows:

“ If I keep a saloon, and a man comes into it drunk and intoxicated, and gets liquor, and then goes out and gets to quarrelling with another, and it is pretty difficult to tell who is to blame, they get into a row, and one is hurt and injured, the courts say that the jury cannot speculate much in a case of that kind to'find out who is to blame, as the saloon-keeper is in-fault, and I take it an action will lie. When, however, the party who is injured is confessedly the aggressor from first to last, and stands in the wrong, then no action will lie for his injury, even if the other man is .drunk or sober. It cannot be said in that case that it is a necessary or natural result of the intoxication."

The court further charged the jury that “the proofs show that Doty was the aggressor."

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Scholten v. Rhoades
242 N.W.2d 509 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1976)
LaBlue v. Specker
100 N.W.2d 445 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1960)
Hill v. Alexander
53 N.E.2d 307 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1944)
Heikkala v. Isaacson
144 N.W. 508 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1913)
Bistline v. Ney Bros.
111 N.W. 422 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1907)
Dennison v. Van Wormer
65 N.W. 274 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1895)
Franklin v. Frey
63 N.W. 970 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1895)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 N.W. 534, 87 Mich. 143, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doty-v-postal-mich-1891.