Hohly v. Sheely

21 Ohio C.C. 484
CourtLucas Circuit Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1900
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Ohio C.C. 484 (Hohly v. Sheely) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Lucas Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hohly v. Sheely, 21 Ohio C.C. 484 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1900).

Opinion

Parker, J.

This is a proceeding brought to reverse a judgment of the court of common pleas. In the court below Rachel E. Sheely brought an action against Phoebe E. Hobly, Reed Hohly, and Paul Hohly, a minor over fourteen years old, to recover damages on account of alleged injuries received upon certain premises which it appears were owned by Phoebe E. Hohly, who is the mother of the other defendants. These premises were occupied by Mrs. Sheely as tenant of Mrs. Hohly, The ground of the action was negligence on the part of the defendants in failing to keep a certain outside cellar door closed, whereby Mrs. Sheely, who had a right to the use of that part of the premises, inadvertently fell in the cellar way and was injured. The liability of Mrs. Hohly rests upon her ownership; the liability of the other defendants rests, according to the rulings of the trial court, upon their actual participation in the alleged wrong doing. On the trial it appeared that there was no evidence tending to fix liability upon Paul Hohly, and the court directed a verdict in his favor, but a. verdict was returned against Phoebe E. Hohly and Reed Hobly, heT son, for $400, and judgment was entered upon it, A motion for a new trial was made and overruled. It is claimed here that there was error in that action on the part of the court, since the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, and was not sustained by the evidence. It is also contended by the plaintiff in error that the court erred in its charge to the jury,

It is urged by counsel for defendant in error that this court is not at liberty to consider this cause upon the question to the weight of the evidence, since it is said that it [486]*486does not appear from the bill of exceptions that all the evi*. dence is brought up. The bill of exceptions contains the usual certificate that it contains all of the evidence submitted to the jury; but it appears that a certain photograph which was used for the purpose of describing the premises, and to aid the witnesses in describing the premises, and which was introduced in evidence as an exhibit, is not attached to-the bill of exceptions,

It is well settled in this state, as stated in Tilton v. Morgaridge, 12 Ohio St., 98, that the bill of exceptions should contain all the evidence. In that case, on page 102, the court say: “The bill of exceptions sets forth the evidence given on the trial both on the part of the plaintiff and defendants, and the judge therein certifies it to contain ‘all the evidence introduced by plaintiff for the purpose of proving or tending to prove the arrest of the plaintiff upon said warrants, issued by Joseph Clark, justice, and all the proof of.defendant tending to disprove the matters charged.’ But it is not certified, nor does it appear by necessary implication, that the bill of exceptions contains ail the evidence given upon the trial, which is indispensably necessary to enable this court to determine whether the court below did or did not err in overruling the motion for a new trial for the alleged cause that the verdict is against the evidence. ”

In Hicks v. Person, 19 Ohio, 426, it is said that the reviewing court “must hav3 precisely the same evidence.” That is said in the head note, but that is not the precise language of the court in delivering the opinion, although perhaps what is there said amounts to that The reviewing court must have the same evidence. P., Ft. W. & O. Ry. Co. v. Probst, 30 Ohio St., 104, is authority to the effect that it is not sufficient- to bring up the substance of the evidence. If the bill of exceptions sets forth that it contains the substance of the evidence, that will not answer. And although the bill of exceptions states that it contains all the evidence, if on examination it appears that material evidence or documents referred to are omitted, the reviewing court cannot consider it on the weight of the evidence. Armleder v. Lieberman, 33 Ohio St., 77. The language of the court as to the material evidence in that case being “all the evi[487]*487deuce * * * as was deemed material, and admitted by the court below.”

These authorities have been followed by the circuit court in a great many reported cases, and by this court in the case of Toledo v. Libby, 19 Circuit Court Reports, 709, which was affirmed by the supreme court without report in 51 Ohio St., 562, 31 W. L. B., 32; also in the case of C. H. & D. Railway Company v. Curtis, 17 Circuit Court Reports, 554, where the matter is very fully discussed by Judge Bentley. The decision in that case declares the rigidity of the rule very forcibly. The bill of exceptions set forth that it contained all the evidence excepting that pertaining to the plaintiff’s injuries, it being an action to recover on account of negligence, And it is held:

‘‘The rule in Ohio that a bill of exceptions must contain all the evidence in the case in order to enable the circuit court to reverse a judgment as against the weight of the evidence, is so absolute that the judgment will not be disturbed if evidence is omitted, although the bill may certify that such evidence, or ‘‘all other testimiony offered in behalf of plaintiff related solely to the character and extent of plaintiff’s injuries,”

These rules have been applied by the circuit courts in the case of Alliance Review & Pub. Co. v. Valentine, 9 Circuit Court Reports, 387, where a copy of a newspaper in a libel case was not attached; in the case of Foster Coal Company v. Moherman et al., 9 Circuit Court Reports, 544, a personal injury case occurring in a coal mine, where a map or chart of the coal mine which was used upon the trial was not attached; in Mulligan v. Receiver, 16 Circuit Court Reports, 9, also a negligence case, where articles of •clothing which had been upon the person injured at the time he was injured were exhibited to the jury, and introduced in evidence, but not attached to the bill of exceptions. Of course there are certain things that -may be included without corporal or physical attachment to a bill of exceptions; it may be done by reference or by identification. It would not be proper, of course, to attach a suit of clothes manually to a bill of exceptions. It'can be done by reference and identification. Large and cumbersome objects are often attached in that way, but they must be referred to [488]*488so as to be identified with certainty. In this case the photograph is not brought forward at all. In the case of Toledo v. Libby, 19 Circuit Court Reports, 709, certain city ordinances were not attached to the bill of exceptions, though upon the reading of the case it is not apparent what bearing those ordinances had upon the issues involved. That is not disclosed by the bill of exceptions,

I may remark that it was stated by counsel for plaintiff in error in argument that this photograph had been lost, so that he was unable to attach it to the bill of exceptions. What a court of review would do if that fact were made to appear in the bill of exceptions, and the best possible effort had been made to substitute the lost evidence, we are not called upon to say here, because the matter is not presented in that way, There are cases, however, where such situation is made to fairly appear from the bill of exceptions, and the facts are certified by the trial court before whom the bill of exceptions was made up, in which it is held that the reviewing court may consider the record, notwithstanding the omission of some of the evidence.

And it appears that it is unnecessary that the materiality of the evidence omitted should be disclosed to make such omission fatal.

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Bluebook (online)
21 Ohio C.C. 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hohly-v-sheely-ohcirctlucas-1900.