Klingaman v. Fish & Hunter Co.

102 N.W. 601, 19 S.D. 139, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 13
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 102 N.W. 601 (Klingaman v. Fish & Hunter Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klingaman v. Fish & Hunter Co., 102 N.W. 601, 19 S.D. 139, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 13 (S.D. 1905).

Opinion

Corson, P. J.

This is an action by the plaintiff to recover from the defendant damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by certain lumber extending out onto the sidewalk in front of defendant’s lumber yard, over which he fell, while passing, along said sidewalk, betweon 5 and 6 o’clock on the evening of January 8, 1902. Verdict and judgment were in favor of the plaintiff, and the defendant has appealed.

It is disclosed by the evidence that the defendant had a lumber yard in Deadwood, and that on the evening of the alleged injury the plaintiff, while passing along the sidewalk, when it was too dark for him to observe the obstruction,' fell-over it upon the sidewalk, and wasinjúred, The grounds upon which a reversal of the judgment is claimed are, among, others: (1) That the court erred in its refusal to strike out the evidence of a certain witness — Mrs. Politerfe — as to statements made to her by the plaintiff subsequently to the injury in regard tb the same; (2) that the court erred in admitting evidence of the plaintiff as to statements made to him by one Graham, an employee of the defendant corporation in and about'its lumber yard, made subsequently to the alleged injury, as to the ownership of the lumber that caused the injury; (3) that the court erred in admitting evidence of the expenses incurred by the plaintiff in consequence of the injury; (4) that the court erred in admitting the testimony of physicians as to the length of time the plaintiff was liable to. be affected by the injury.

On the trial Mrs. Politere, a witness on the part of the plaintiff, testified, among other things, as follows: “I remember that he said he fell and hurt himself; that he suffered pain in his limb and back. He told me that it hurt in his hip, and also [143]*143in his knee; and that he could walk, but then it hurt every time he walked. He said he suffered so that he could not sleep nights, and that his leg pained him very bad. He complained of his leg a great deal.” This evidence was seasonably objected to by counsel for defendant, but was admitted by the court, and exception taken. In addition to the objection to the evidence counsel for the defendant moved to strike out the portions of the evidence of the witness above stated. This motion was also denied, and exception taken. While it seems to be the general rule that when bodily pain is in issue, exclamations indicative of present existing pain are competent,' yet the testimony moved to be stricken out could not," under the most liberal rules laid down by courts, be otherwise than erroneous, and prejudicial to-the defendant. . Witnesses are not permitted to testify to complaints or statements of physical condition or feeling made by an injured person which are made in answer to a question or interrogation descriptive or narrative in their nature, and which are not a part of the res gestee; Roosa v. Loan Co., 132 Mass. 439; Roche v. Brooklyn R. Co., 105 N. Y. 294, 11 N. E. 630; Bacon v. Charlton, 7 Cush. 581; Williams v. R. Co., 68 Minn. 55, 70 N. W. 860; Firkins v. R. Co., 61 Minn. 31, 63 N. W. 172; Keller v. Town of Gillman, 93 Wis. 9, 66 N. W. 800; Stewart v. Everts, 76 Wis. 35, 44 N. W. 1092, 20 Am. St. Rep. 17; Tenney v. Rapid City, 17 S. D. 282, 96 N. W. 96; Fallon v. Rapid City, 17 S. D. 570, 97 N. W. 1009. In the case of Firkins v. R. Co., supra, the learned Supreme Court of Minnesota says: “But there is a limitation to the rule, which must be strictly observed. Such evidence must not be extended beyond the necessity upon which it is founded. It must be confined strictly to such complaints, expressions,^ [144]*144and exclamations as furnish evidence of a present, existing pain or malady [citing Bacon v. Inhabitants of Charlton, 7 Cush. 586]. Tested by this rule, the evidence now in question was improperly admitted. The plaintiff was asked: ‘What is the matter? How badly are you hurt? and his answer, taken in connection with the question, as it must be, was that he was pretty badly hurt. This was.not an expression, or an exclamation, or a complaint indicating present pain or suffering, coming involuntarily from one in distress. It was not a verbal act Which indicated the bodily or mental feeling of the plaintiff but was his opinion as to how badly he had been injured at a time quite remote from the accident itself. If such evidence could be permitted to go to the jury, nothing would stand in the way of the introduction of similar questions or answers up to the time of the trial.” In the case of Bacon v. Charlton, supra, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts says: “The next objection raised by the exceptions relates to the admission in evidence of expressions and complaints of pain by the plaintiff after the accident. This rule of law is now well settled, and it forms an exception to the general rules of evidence that, where the bodily or mental feelings of a party are to be proved the usual and natural expressions of such feelings, made at the time, are considered competent and original evidence in his favor. And the rule is founded upon the cqnsideration that such expressions are the natural and necessary language of emotion, of the existence of which, from the very nature of the case, there can be no other evidence. There are ills and pains of the body which are proper subjects of proof in courts of justice, which can be shown in no other way. Such • evidence, however, is not to be extended beyond the necessity on which the [145]*145rule is founded. Anything in the nature of narration or statement is to be carefully excluded, and the testimony is to be confined strictly to such complaints, exclamations, and expressions as usually and naturally accompany, and furnish evidence of, a present existing pain or malady.” In the case of Roche v. Brooklyn R. R. Co., supra, the Court of Appeals of New York says: ‘‘But we are quite clear that the bald statement, made long after the injury, by the party, that he suffers from pain, ought not to be admitted as in any degree corroborative of his testimony as to the extent of his pain. For these reasons the evidence of McElroy as to plaintiff’s declarations of existing pain when they were walking in the street together, long after the accident, should not have been received. It was error, also, to permit the same witness to prove declarations of the plaintiff that her arm pained her very much, even though at the same time she showed her arm, and that it was swolen and red. The appearance of the arm he could describe, but her declarations that it pained her very badly is mere hearsay, and should not have been permitted. The judgment of the General Term and Circuit should be reversed, and a new trial granted, costs to abide event.” In Kellar v. Gillman, supra, the supreme Court of Wisconsin, in speaking of this class of evidence, says: “There are two statements made by the mother which should have been excluded ‘under the fourth rule. They were to the effect that the injured woman said uhat when she laid down she was dizzy; that she complained of her lungs hurting her, and her back also. The admission of this evidence was error, as it seems to have been narrative inform, rather than exclamations caused by present pain.” The rule admitting evidence as to complaints or excla[146]*146mations of pain or suffering is clearly an exception to the general rule that self-serving declarations of a party are inadmissible, but such evidence seems to be admissible under the great weight of authority; but, as stated by the learned court from which we have quoted, the rule should not be extended so at to include a narration or statement as to the condition or extent of the injury, and not in their nature exclamatory or expressive of present suffering.

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Bluebook (online)
102 N.W. 601, 19 S.D. 139, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klingaman-v-fish-hunter-co-sd-1905.