Faulkner v. Birch

120 Ill. App. 281, 1905 Ill. App. LEXIS 648
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 20, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 120 Ill. App. 281 (Faulkner v. Birch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Faulkner v. Birch, 120 Ill. App. 281, 1905 Ill. App. LEXIS 648 (Ill. Ct. App. 1905).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Gest

delivered the opinion of the court.

The material averments of the declaration are that defendant, Faulkner, was a regularly licensed pharmacist and engaged in the business of conducting a drug store and pharmacy and the filling of medical prescriptions for hire; that plaintiff employed defendant to fill a prescription which had been prescribed for her by a physician, which prescription called for an ingredient known as codeine; that defendant filled the prescription and plaintiff took the medicine so compounded by defendant; that defendant carelessly and negligently filled the said prescription by using an ingredient known as atropine instead of codeine; that atropine is a deadly poison and thereby plaintiff became sick, etc. Defendant pleaded the general issue. A trial by jury was had and a verdict rendered for plaintiff in the sum of $1,700, upon which the court, after overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial, entered judgment.

It appears from the proof on the part of plaintiff that defendant is a druggist in Champaign and that Dr. F. PI. Powers, a physician of Champaign, was in attendance upon a Mrs. Johnston, who was ill of pneumonia. On January 30, 1904, be went to defendant’s store and there wrote a prescription for Mrs. Johnston which Faulkner filled. The prescription called for codeine as an ingredient and stated on its face that it was for Mrs. Johnston. It was put up in capsules, a box of capsules was taken to Mrs. Johnston’s home and some of the capsules were administered to her. Plaintiff is a trained nurse, and. on the second day of February, by Dr. Powers’ direction, began attendance on Mrs. Johnston as a nurse. On the fourth or fifth of February the capsule box by direction of Dr. Powers was sent to defendant to be refilled with the capsules, and was refilled by him and was taken to Mrs. Johnston’s. On February 6th, plaintiff," being troubled with a cough, by direction of Dr. Powers took one of the capsules and shortly thereafter experienced the effects of' atropine poisoning, and it appears without doubt that when the box was refilled atropine was used instead of codeine in recornpounding the prescription. When plaintiff offered her proof showing for whom the prescription was made and filled and the circumstances under which plaintiff took the capsule, defendant made general objection, which was overruled. At the close of the evidence on the part of the plaintiff and again at the close of all the evidence, defendant in due form moved the court to strike out the evidence in the case and to instruct the jury to find for the defendant, and the motions were overruled. In substance the grounds of the motions are, first, that the proof is variant from the averments of the declaration; second, that the evidence fails to establish a prima facie case; that the plaintiff failed to show any negligence on the part of the defendant. It is familiar doctrine that the allegata and probata must agree. A declaration is a specification in a methodical and legal form of the circumstances that constitute the plaintiff’s cause of action. The declaration sets up a particular contract between the defendant and plaintiff, the negligent performance thereof by .defendant, and the consequent injury to plaintiff. The proof made does not agree with the averments of the declaration. The declaration sets up facts in detail constituting a particular contractual relation entered into by the parties; the proof does not establish such relation but tends to establish only that general relation which exists between a druggist, a physician, and the public, arising out of the fact that the druggist is engaged in carrying on the business of compounding prescriptions. When a plaintiff avers particular facts descriptive of the transaction upon which lie bases his action, he must prove them as laid, even though it is not necessary for him to aver such particular description, and this rule prevails not only in actions ex contractu but also in actions ex delicto when the gist of the action is the negligent performance of a contract. This rule, however, is for the benefit of the defendant and is one which, in a suit at law, he may waive, and which he does waive unless specific objection be made in apt time. The defendant when the evidence was offered, made merely general objection; general objection is sufficient for irrelevancy or incompetency but is not sufficient for variance. An objection for variance should be based upon that ground, and should specifically point out wherein the variance consists, otherwise objection to the evidence is deemed as waived. In such case a general objection is equivalent to no objection. The evidence, therefore, having been admitted without objection, the court was not required at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s proof or at the conclusion of all the proof to entertain the defendant’s motion to' strike out the evidence. Such a practice is not calculated to advance the administration of justice, and is promotive of confusion rather than clearness in the record. If objection had been made in due form and apt time, when the evidence was offered, plaintiff could then have amended her declaration, and if the amendment occasioned surprise to defendant, application could have been made and would have been granted for a continuance. Ho complaint was made that defendant was surprised nor was any application made for continuance. It is true the court in its discretion could have allowed the motion when made, and also have allowed the plaintiff then to amend her declaration, but it was not required so to do, and committed no error in denying the motion as to this ground. At the most it was matter of discretion. The second ground for the motion is that the evidence fails to show any negligence by defendant. It appears further, from the evidence on the part of plaintiff, that at the time defendant recompounded the prescription he had no more codeine in stock and sent to another druggist for six grains, and upon obtaining it discovered that the druggist to whom he applied had sent him two grains more than he ordered; that defendant then said that it was darker and coarser than that he had previously used, that it did not look like that he had been in the habit of using but that “ he guessed it was all right ” and thereupon used it in filling the prescription. Whether in such a case as this, proof of negligence other than of the mere fact of using atropine for codeine in compounding the prescription, be necessary to be made, in the first instance, in order to make a prima facie case for the plaintiff, we are not called upon to determine, and as to that question express no opinion. We think the evidence above mentioned was sufficient to warrant the court in submitting the cause to the jury. In compounding medicines the health and lives of the public may not with impunity be taken or injured by druggists who compound prescriptions with the degree of care manifested by such proof. As we understand, atropine and codeine, in some forms at least, look much alike; in such cases ordinary care on the part of the druggist requires a very great degree of care. The care required is to be measured by the danger that is manifest. The court did not err in denying the motion on the second ground.

It is urged by counsel for defendant, and we think with reason, that the court improperly restricted his cross-examination of witnesses and improperly denied him the right to introduce evidence. When defendant on cross-examination inquired of plaintiff “ if it was one of the same lot of capsules that she had been administering to Mrs. Johnston” that she took, the court sustained plaintiff’s objection. We cannot see upon what ground.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
120 Ill. App. 281, 1905 Ill. App. LEXIS 648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faulkner-v-birch-illappct-1905.