Hart v. National Casket Co.

161 Misc. 728, 293 N.Y.S. 155, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1491
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1937
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 161 Misc. 728 (Hart v. National Casket Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. National Casket Co., 161 Misc. 728, 293 N.Y.S. 155, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1491 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1937).

Opinion

Haltanan, J.

The defendants National Casket Company, Inc., and Joseph Offner move, upon a sealed verdict rendered by a jury at a Trial Term of the Supreme Court, Queens county, on Monday, November 16, 1936, for an order directing the county clerk of Queens county to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff against the defendants Royal Beer Distributors, Inc., and Cologero Módica in the sum of $50,000 and $380 funeral expenses, with costs, and in favor of the movant-defendants against the plaintiff, with costs.

By an order to show cause, dated November 25, 1936, a motion for like relief was made, returnable in Special Term, Part I, Kings [730]*730county, on November 27, 1936, during the same term of court that the action was tried and the verdict rendered. The learned justice then presiding in said part, in a memorandum decision dated December 14, 1936, denied that motion with leave to renew upon further and proper papers. Such a motion has now been made, by an order to show cause dated December 19, 1936, returnable at Special Term, Part I, Kings county, on December 22, 1936. This motion, as well as a cross-motion made by the plaintiff to restore the action to the Trial Term Calendar for a new trial as to the movant-defendants upon the ground that no verdict with respect to them had been rendered by the jury, have been referred to me, the justice who presided at the trial.

The action was brought to recover damages for the wrongful death of plaintiff’s intestate who, while standing on the sidewalk, received fatal injuries as a result of a collision between a truck owned by the defendant Royal Beer Distributors, Inc., driven by the defendant Cologero Módica, and a truck owned by the defendant National Casket Company, Inc., driven by the defendant Joseph Offner. After a two-and-a-half-day trial on November 10, 12 and 13, 1936, the case was submitted to the jury and a sealed verdict thereafter ordered to be opened on Monday morning, November 16, 1936, in the presence of the jury and counsel or their representatives.

To aid the jury in its deliberations and with the consent of counsel for all parties, the court submitted to it a memorandum which set forth the names of the parties as well as which defendant was the driver of the truck owned by the defendant National Casket Company and which was the driver of the truck owned by the defendant Royal Beer Distributors.

Throughout the charge the jury was instructed fully that it had for consideration the negligence of the four defendants, namely, the owner and driver of the casket truck and the owner and driver of the beer truck; and that it could bring in a verdict against both drivers and their respective employers if it found both of the former responsible for the accident, or against one driver and his employer if it found that one driver alone was responsible.

There were no requests or exceptions by plaintiff’s attorney to the court’s charge. However, after counsel for one of the defendants had made several requests, plaintiff’s counsel requested and the court charged the following: In view of the requests, may I make one request: Will your honor charge the jury it is sufficient to support a verdict against all defendants if the negligence of all of them be a contributory cause, even though there be differing degrees of negligence of each.”

[731]*731On Monday, November 16, 1936, the sealed verdict was opened by the court in the presence of trial counsel and the jury sitting in the box. The following is a transcript of what took place:

“ Appearances:
“ Same as before noted.
“ (The sealed verdict of the jury was opened in the presence of the Court and the jury and counsel for the respective parties.)
“ The Clerk: Sealed verdict in the case of Rose D. Hart, as administratrix against the National Casket Company, Royal Beer Distributors, Joseph Ofiner, and Cologero Módica, reads as follows:
“ ‘ We, the undersigned jurors, say we find a verdict for the plaintiff for $50,000 and funeral expenses against the defendant Royal Beer Distributors, Inc., and Cologero Módica, driver of the beer truck.’
“ Signed by twelve jurors.
“ Mr. Lehrman: I ask that the jury be polled.
“ The Court: Yes, poll the jury.
“ (The jury was polled by the Clerk of the Court, each juryman being asked whether the verdict as above recorded was his verdict, and each juryman answered in the affirmative.)
“Mr. Lehrman: The plaintiff moves to set aside the verdict and for a new trial upon the ground that it is contrary to the law, contrary to the evidence, and against the weight of the evidence, and upon all the grounds set forth in the Civil Practice Act.
“ The Court: The motion is denied.
“ Mr. Lehrman: Exception.”

The disposition of this motion involves the construction or interpretation of the verdict as rendered by the jury in this case.

In view of the proceedings at the opening of the sealed verdict, there can be no doubt that at the time counsel for the respective parties and the court construed the verdict to be in favor of the plaintiff against the defendants Royal Beer Distributors, Inc., and Cologero Módica, alone, and in favor of the movant-defendants against the plaintiff. Plaintiff’s counsel neither made objection to the form of the verdict nor raised any question as to its meaning and effect, which he should have done at that time. He did not move to set it aside upon the ground that it was incomplete or indefinite, nor ask that it be submitted to the jury as he might have done. (Porret v. City of New York, 252 N. Y. 208.) By polling the jury the plaintiff’s counsel clearly established that the verdict as rendered was the verdict of each and every one of the jurors. In failing to make any request that the jury, which was then in the box, not yet discharged, be sent back to reconsider or clarify their verdict, it can fairly be said that the plaintiff thus consented to and [732]*732accepted the verdict as rendered and interpreted, and cannot now question the result. (Lockwood v. Bartlett, 130 N. Y. 340, 353; Hoffman v. Brooklyn, Q. Co. & S. R. R. Co., [App. Term, 2d Dept.] 78 Misc. 507; Saulsbury v. Braun, [App. Div. 3d Dept.] 223 App. Div. 555; affd., 249 N. Y. 618.)

That the liability of the movant-defendants was considered by the jury in its deliberations there can be no question. The jury was given the case at eleven-thirty in the morning. At three-twenty in the afternoon it returned with four questions, three of which dealt with the casket company truck, to wit:

“ The jury wish to set in their minds the position of the casket truck after it came to rest after the accident.
“ The jury would have the attached photograph [referring to Exhibit B] marked with the exact pole where the casket truck came to rest.
“ In addition to that, would also like to know in which direction the front of the casket truck was facing after the accident and it had come to rest.”

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Bluebook (online)
161 Misc. 728, 293 N.Y.S. 155, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-national-casket-co-nysupct-1937.