Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Reed

103 N.E. 127, 57 Ind. App. 65, 1913 Ind. App. LEXIS 20
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 21, 1913
DocketNo. 8,079
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 103 N.E. 127 (Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Reed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Reed, 103 N.E. 127, 57 Ind. App. 65, 1913 Ind. App. LEXIS 20 (Ind. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

Hottel, P. J.

This action was brought by appellee against the appellant, and its locomotive engineer, Frank Miller, for damages, for personal injuries, resulting from a collision alleged to have been caused by the negligence of appellant and said Miller in the operation of appellant’s train. The collision occurred at a crossing of the railroad company’s tracks and South East Street in the city of Indianapolis. The issues of fact were tendered by a complaint in one paragraph and a general denial thereof. There was a trial by jury which resulted in the following verdict: “We, the jury, find for the plaintiff and against the defendant, L. E. & W. Railway Company, and we assess his damages at Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000), and we find for the defendant, Frank Miller.”

A motion by Miller for judgment in his favor on the verdict was sustained, without objection or exception by either appellant or appellee. Later the appellant filed a written motion for judgment in its favor “for the reason that the acts of negligence charged in the complaint were committed by its codefendant, Frank Miller, who was, as alleged in said complaint, a servant and employe of this defendant, and, the jury having returned a verdict in favor of said defendant, Frank Miller, there can not be any judgment rendered against this defendant in this cause but this defendant is entitled to judgment in its favor.” This motion was overruled and the appellant then moved for judgment on the answers of the jury to the interrogatories notwithstanding the general verdict, which motion was also overruled and there was judgment on the verdict for appellee against appellant for the sum of $5,000. Proper exceptions were saved by appellant to the court’s ruling on each of said motions, and these rulings are, in different form, assigned as error and relied on for reversal.

[68]*681. 2. [67]*67It is contended by appellant that the ruling on its first motion presents reversible error. In answer to this contention it is insisted by appellee that no question is pre[68]*68sented by such ruling because the motion on which the ruling was made is not authorized by statute or by the practice in this State. Section 590 Burns 1914, §564 E. S. 1881, expressly provides that “When a trial by jury has been had, and a general verdict rendered, the judgment must be in conformity to the verdict.” This section of the statute is mandatory and by it the trial court is given no discretion in the judgment it may render where there is a trial by jury and a general verdict, but the judgment in such ease, if any be rendered, “must” conform to such verdict, and we know of no motion recognized by the law that will authorize a different judgment except a motion for judgment on the answers to interrogatories which is impliedly authorized by §§572, 573 Burns 1914, Acts 1897 p. 128, §547 E. S. 1881. If these sections of the statute can be said to leave any doubt as to what is the proper practice in such cases, it would seem that such doubt ought to be removed by the following expressions of the Supreme Court on such subject.

In the case of Mitchell v. Geisendorff (1873), 44 Ind. 358, a jury had returned a special verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $175 if the law was with the plaintiff. The court, however, concluded from the facts found that the plaintiff was entitled to a judgment for $8,000. The Supreme Court in discussing such action of the trial court on page 360 said: “This action of the court was clearly erroneous. The court must enter a judgment on the verdict, or set it aside and grant a new trial, which was asked by the plaintiff in this ease and refused. * * * ‘Where the verdict is special, or where there has been a special finding on particular questions of fact, the court shall render the proper judgment.’ 2 G. & H. 218, sec. 371. The ‘proper judgment’ here named means a judgment on the verdict and can mean nothing else.” (Our italics.) In the case of Northwestern, etc., Ins. Co. v. Blankenship (1884), 94 Ind. 535, 48 Am. Rep. 185, where the jury returned a general verdict [69]*69in favor of the plaintiff and answers to interrogatories, the plaintiff filed a motion for judgment upon the general verdict and the special findings of the jury in answer to interrogatories. In discussing such motion the Supreme Court on page 540 said: “The motion here was not for judgment upon the special findings notwithstanding the verdict; it was for ‘judgment for the plaintiff on the general verdict and on the special findings’. There was no error in overruling that motion; such a motion is not authorized by the statutes. R. S. 1881, sections 546, 547. The only reason for a judgment on the special findings is that they are contrary to, and, therefore, control the general verdict; hut here the motion was for judgment upon both. In such a case, it was proper to render judgment %ipon the general verdict.” (Our italics.) See also, Reid v. State, ex rel. (1877), 58 Ind. 406, 407; Bowlas v. Stout (1877), 60 Ind. 267, 271; Nordyke & Marmon Co. v. Dickson (1881), 76 Ind. 188, 190; Dawson v. Shirk (1885), 102 Ind. 184, 188, 1 N. E. 292.

These authorities lead to hut one conclusion, viz., that the rendition of judgment on a general verdict is a judicial act that can be exercised only in conformity to the statute which authorizes it, and that the sections of statute controlling upon this subject when construed together, require that a judgment in any case must either conform to the general verdict or must be in accord with answers to the interrogatories where they are such as to overthrow the general verdict, or otherwise the general verdict must he set aside and a new trial granted. Appellant contends in effect that such motion amounted to and should he treated simply as a motion for judgment in its favor on the general verdict, and that the statute above quoted requires only that the court shall conform its judgment to the general verdict to the extent that such general verdict conforms to the law and the facts. Assuming, without deciding, that such motion should he so construed, and that by the ruling thereon there is presented to this court the question whether, on the grounds stated [70]*70therein, the trial court erred in refusing to enter judgment in appellant’s favor, we are still of the opinion that, under the rules which should govern this court in its consideration of such question, that the ruling of the trial court thereon can not be said to present available error. It is open to serious doubt whether in considering such question the statute quoted authorizes this court to look to, or consider, anything other than the general verdict and such motion, but this we need not and do not decide, because it is enough to say that in considering such question we are not required or authorized to look to the evidence.

3. If appellant be given the benefit of the rule which governs this court in passing on a motion for judgment on the answers to interrogatories, which is all that it asks, and we look to the pleadings as well as to such general verdict, the same conclusion must follow. "When this is done, we find that the averments of the complaint on the subject of negligence warrant the verdict returned by the jury. These averments are as follows: “the defendant, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, had in its employ, defendant, Prank Miller, * *

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Bluebook (online)
103 N.E. 127, 57 Ind. App. 65, 1913 Ind. App. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-erie-western-railroad-v-reed-indctapp-1913.