McGuire v. Brooklyn Heights Railroad

51 N.Y.S. 1075

This text of 51 N.Y.S. 1075 (McGuire v. Brooklyn Heights Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGuire v. Brooklyn Heights Railroad, 51 N.Y.S. 1075 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

GOODRICH, P. J.

The plaintiff on August 5, 1896, was a passenger on one of the defendant’s cars, which was run into by another car of the defendant. She was thrown down, and received serious injuries. At the trial the defendant admitted its responsibility, the amount of the plaintiff’s damages being the only real question involved. The jury gave a verdict of $6,000 for the plaintiff, and a motion was made for a new trial on the usual grounds.

The appellant’s counsel contends that it was error to admit certain evidence. The trial occupied two days. On the first day, as the record shows, “the plaintiff was carried out in an apparently hysterical condition.” On the following day Dr. Brush was examined as an expert witness for the plaintiff. He examined her condition on November 12, 1897, and gave evidence in relation thereto. He made no other examination until the trial, when he went out with her at the time of her leaving the court room. The following testimony gives rise to the defendant’s chief contention of error:

“By Plaintiff’s Counsel: Q. Doctor, you were in court yesterday afternoon? A. Yes, sir; I was here when Mrs. McGuire had this attack. I went out into the room with her where she was. Q. What was that? A. That was a form of fit which is known as ‘hysteroepileptic’ or ‘hysteromajor.’ Q. Now, [1076]*1076doctor, from your examination of Mrs. McGuire, and the facts stated and testified to here, -what do you say was the cause of that? Mr. Thomas: I object to it as incompetent and immaterial; no proper foundation laid for the question, and not a subject of opinion. (Objection overruled. Defendant excepts.) A. Some severe bodily injury. Q. That is one/of the results of the injury to which you refer? (Same objection, ruling, and exception.) Q. Was that one of the results,—was it the result of her present condition? A. Yes, sir.”

There can be no doubt, under the authorities cited below, that the question was improper. In People v. McElvaine, 121 N. Y. 250, 24 N. E. 465, the objectionable inquiry "was:

“Q. Now, are you able to say whether, in your judgment, based upon all the testimony, the acts of the defendant on the -night of the homicide, the testimony as to his past life given by the witnesses in his defense, and based upon the whole case,—whether this young man is sane or insane?”

The objection was:

“I object, as it is not a question properly put. It is too vague and indefinite. In order to put a hypothetical question properly,—so say the court of appeals,—it must consist of specially proven facts, which come within the pale of the proof; not where a person, for instance, is permitted to give an omnibus opinion.”

The question was then propounded:

“Based-upon the whole testimony of the prosecution and the defense, in- . eluding the hypothetical question put by Judge Curtis [defendant’s counsel], and everything that you have heard sworn to here,—now will you answer the question? (The defense excepts.)”

The court above' said (121 N. Y. 255, 256, 24 N. E. 466):

“We cannot doubt but that this question was improper. The witness was thus permitted to take into consideration all the evidence in the case given upon a long trial, extending over nine days, and, upon so much of it as he could recollect, determine for himself the credibility of the witnesses, the probability or improbability of their statements, and, drawing therefrom such inferences as in his judgment were warranted by it, pronounce upon the sanity or insanity of the defendant. It cannot he questioned but that the witness was, by the question, put in the place of the jury, and was allowed to determine upon his own judgment what their verdict ought to be in the case. It hardly needs discussion or authority to show the impropriety of this question.”

In Reynolds v. Robinson, 64 N. Y. 589, 596, the court said:

“His opinion may be obtained by stating to him a hypothetical case, taking in some or all the facts stated by witnesses, and claimed by counsel putting the question to be established by their evidence;, and, when .the question is thus stated, the witness has in his mind a definite state of facts, and the province of the triors, whether referees or jurors, is not interfered with.’.’

In Guiterman v. Steamship Co., 83 N. Y. 358, 365, it was stated that it is not the province of an expert witness “to draw inferences from the evidence of other witnesses, or to take in such facts as he can recollect, and thus form an opinion.”

In Gregory v. Railway Co. (Sup.) 8 N. Y. Supp. 525, the court said:

“An expert witness cannot be asked to give an opinion based upon what he has heard other witnesses testify. Such opinion must be based on an hypothetical question containing facts which are assumed to have been proven.”

[1077]*1077From these authorities it is clear that the question was improper, and that the evidence should have been excluded.

But the respondent contends in his brief that:

“If it were possible to view the question as having reference to any other statement in the testimony, the defendant’s counsel should have called the court’s attention to that possibility, in order that the question might be modified, and any misunderstanding of it obviated.” ■

There is no doubt of the general rule that a party objecting to evidence must specify the ground of his objection, so as to bring the attention of the court to the point involved, and that, if he omits to do so, he will be deprived of the benefit of his objection. People v. Beach, 87 N. Y. 508; Turner v. City of Newburgh, 109 N. Y. 301, 16 N. E. 344. In People v. Beach the objection was simply a general objection, and the court said (page 513):

“If the objection had been made, in terms, on the ground that the evidence was incompetent, the sufficiency of the objection could not have been questioned; and the objection, as made, necessarily implied this. Neither the court nor prosecuting attorney could have been misled as to the point of the objection.”

The court held the objection sufficient.

In Turner v. City of Newburgh, supra, the court said (109 N. Y. 308, 16 N. E. 346):

“These objections * * * were general, and failed to specify any grounds. This court has held that where the objection to evidence is general, and it is overruled, and the evidence is received, the ruling will not be held erroneous, unless there be some grounds which could not have been obviated had they been specified, or unless the evidence in its essential nature be incompetent.”

In Ward v. Kilpatrick, 85 N. Y. 413, 417, the court said:

“An objection was made generally, and without assigning any ground of error. If that had been done, the difficulty might have been obviated.”

The court of appeals, in Re Snelling, 136 N. Y. 515, 518, 32 N. E. 1006, passing upon an objection to the question, “Assuming their testimony to be true, and basing your opinion upon such testimony, what would you say as to the mental condition- of Mary Snelling, say in June, 1890?” said:

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Related

Cushman v. United States Life Insurance
70 N.Y. 72 (New York Court of Appeals, 1877)
Ward v. . Kilpatrick
85 N.Y. 413 (New York Court of Appeals, 1881)
People of the State of New York v. . Beach
87 N.Y. 508 (New York Court of Appeals, 1882)
In Re the Probate of the Will of Snelling
32 N.E. 1006 (New York Court of Appeals, 1893)
People v. . McElvaine
24 N.E. 465 (New York Court of Appeals, 1890)
Reynolds v. . Robinson
64 N.Y. 589 (New York Court of Appeals, 1876)
Guiterman v. Liverpool, New York & Philadelphia Steamship Co.
83 N.Y. 358 (New York Court of Appeals, 1881)
Turner v. . City of Newburgh
16 N.E. 344 (New York Court of Appeals, 1888)
Gregory v. New York, Lake Erie & Western Railway Co.
8 N.Y.S. 525 (New York Supreme Court, 1890)

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Bluebook (online)
51 N.Y.S. 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcguire-v-brooklyn-heights-railroad-nyappdiv-1898.