Schmelzer v. Farrar

320 N.E.2d 707, 40 Ohio App. 2d 440, 69 Ohio Op. 2d 384, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2655
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 19, 1974
Docket73AP-296
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 320 N.E.2d 707 (Schmelzer v. Farrar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmelzer v. Farrar, 320 N.E.2d 707, 40 Ohio App. 2d 440, 69 Ohio Op. 2d 384, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2655 (Ohio Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

Reilly, J.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County overruling plaintiff’s motions for a new trial and a judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

The record indicates that plaintiff, the appellant, was stopped on Route 33 while preparing to turn left into West Fifth Avenue, Columbus, Ohio. He had been driving his automobile south in the left travel lane; whereupon, he was struck in the rear by defendant Farrar (hereinafter called Farrar). Appellee Secrest (hereinafter called Se-crest) was travelling south on Route 33 and collided with the rear of Farrar’s automobile, apparently forcing it into plaintiff’s vehicle. Consequently, appellant’s automobile *441 was projected across the highway, where it stopped in a position facing southeasterly, on the east side of Route 33 and immediately adjacent to East Fifth Avenue.

Plaintiff filed an action in the Court of Common Pleas against Farrar and Secrest. The case was tried, and the jury rendered a verdict for Secrest, but against Farrar, for six thousand and seventy-five dollars and costs. Plaintiff filed motions for a new trial and a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which were overruled.

Plaintiff has now perfected this appeal and advances eleven assignments of error. Several are related; therefore, they are considered together.

Plaintiff’s first two assignments of error are as follows:

“1. Error of the trial court in permitting the defendant Secrest (Bartley) to file answers, denials and objections to certain requests for admissions after the case came on for trial.
“2. Error in overruling the plaintiff’s alternative motion requesting further answers or denials tendered by the defendant Secrest (Bartley).”

These assignments of error are not well taken. Whatever error there was only went to proving damages, not the liability issue, as we shall discuss later. Further, Civil Rule 61 reads as follows:

“No error in either the admission or the exclusion of evidence and no error or defect in any ruling or order or in anything done or omitted by the court or by any of the parties is ground for granting a new trial or for setting aside a verdict or for vacating, modifying or otherwise disturbing a judgment or order, unless refusal to take such action appears to the court inconsistent with substantial justice. The court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard any error or defect in the proceeding which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties.”

We also note the first paragraph of the syllabus in Smith v. Flesher (1967), 12 Ohio St. 2d 107, to wit:

“In order to support reversal of a judgment, the record must show affirmatively not only that error intervened but that such error was to the prejudice of the party seek *442 ing such reversal. (Paragraph one of the syllabus of Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. v. Goodin, 10 Ohio St. 557, approved and followed.) ”

The record shows the answers and objections of both defendants are quite similar. We reiterate; in effect, they admit liability. Therefore, their admission was not prejudicial to plaintiff. Consequently, assignments of error one and two are overruled.

Appellant’s third assignment of error is as follows:

4 4 Error in permitting jury to view the scene of the accident when there had been a substantial change in the intersection and there was sufficient other visual evidence available to disclose the condition of the scene at the time of the collision.”

This assignment of error is also not well taken. R. C. 2315.02 reads as follows:

4 4 If the court is of the opinion that it is proper for the jurors to have a view of property which is the subject of litigation, or of a place where a material fact occurred, it may order them to be conducted in a body under the charge of an officer to such property or place, which shall be shown to them by a person appointed by the court for that purpose. * * #”

In brief, the statute provides that a view of the scene of an accident is subject to the discretion of the trial court. This is reiterated in the following passage from 52 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 531-532, Trial, Section 52.

4 4 The view of property in civil actions in the Common Pleas Court is controlled by RC §2315.02 (GrC §11420-2), which provides that if the court is of opinion that it is proper for the jurors to have a view of property which is the subject of litigation, or of a place where a material fact occurred, the court may order them to be conducted in a body under the charge of an officer, to such property or place, which must be shown to them by a person appointed by the court for that purpose.” (Emphasis added.)

The record in this case does not disclose an abuse of discretion by the trial court in allowing the jury to visit the scene. Actually, it may have aided the jury’s understanding of the evidence, by seeing the general location where the *443 accident happened. Therefore, plaintiff’s third assignment of error is overruled.

The fourth, ninth and tenth assignments of error relate to the same legal issues and are considered together. They are as follows:

“4. Error in overruling plaintiff’s motion for a directed verdict against the defendant Secrest (Bartley).”
“9. The verdict and judgment are against the manifest weight of the evidence and contrary to law.
“10. The court erred in overruling plaintiff’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.”

The record reveals requests for admissions by plaintiff, no timely answer by defendants, and, subsequently, objections and answers permitted by the trial court over plaintiff’s objections. Civil Eule 36(A) reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

“ * * * The matter is admitted unless, within a period designated in the request, not less than twenty-eight days after service thereof or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow, the party to whom the request is directed serves upon the party requesting the admission a written answer or objection addressed to the matter, signed by the party or by his attorney. If objection is made, the reasons therefor shall be stated. The answer shall specifically deny the matter or set forth in detail the reasons why the answering party cannot truthfully admit or deny the matter. A denial shall fairly meet the substance of the requested admission, and when good faith requires that a party qualify his answer, or deny only a part of the matter of which an admission is requested, he shall specify so much of it as is true and qualify or deny the remainder. * ^

A denial in part is an admission of the part not denied, unless the party qualifies the answer. To the extent there is no answer, there is an admission.

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Bluebook (online)
320 N.E.2d 707, 40 Ohio App. 2d 440, 69 Ohio Op. 2d 384, 1974 Ohio App. LEXIS 2655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmelzer-v-farrar-ohioctapp-1974.