Terry v. Shively

64 Ind. 106
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 64 Ind. 106 (Terry v. Shively) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Terry v. Shively, 64 Ind. 106 (Ind. 1878).

Opinion

Howk, C. J.

This was a suit by the appellee, as plaintiff, against the appellant, as defendant, upon an open account for lumber sold and delivered by the appellee to the appellant.

In his complaint, the appellee alleged,, in substance, that the appellant was indebted to him in the sum of twelve hundred and twenty dollars for lumber sold and delivered by the appellee to the appellant, the particulars of which [107]*107were set forth in an account filed with and made pai’t of said complaint, and that the said account remained wholly unpaid, and was then due the appellee from the appellant; and judgment was demanded for fifteen hundred dollars, and for other proper relief. An itemized bill of particulars was filed with the complaint.

To this complaint the appellant answered in four paragraphs, the first being a general denial, and each of the other paragraphs' setting up affirmative matters, by way of defence, which we need not now notice.

To the affirmative paragraphs of the answer, the appellee replied by a general denial. The issues joined were tried by a jury, and a general verdict was returned for the appellee, assessing his damages in the sum of two hundred and sixteen dollars.

With their general verdict, the jury also returned into court their special findings on particular questions of fact, submitted to them by the appellant under the direction of the court, as follows :

“1st. Do you find, that, on the 15th of July, 1874, the plaintiff and defendant had a settlement of all lumber transactions, had between them up to that date ? ”

Ans. “ No.”

“ 2d. If you answer the first interrogatory in the affirmative, then did the plaintiff execute his note to the defendant for the sum then understood to he due ? ”

Ans. “ Yes.”

“ 3d. If you answer the second interrogatory in the affirmative, then do you find,that, after the note had been so executed by plaintiff to the defendant, plaintiff made a partial payment or partial payments thereon, without objection or protest ? ”

Ans. “Yes.”

“ 4th. Was all the lumber, delivered by the plaintiff to [108]*108the defendant, paid for before delivery, by advancements of money made by defendant to plaintiff?”

,The appellant moved the court, in writing, for a judgment in his favor, on the special findings of facts, for the reason that the same were inconsistent with the general verdict, which motion was overruled, and to this ruling he excepted.

His motion for a new .trial was overruled by the court, and his exception to this decision was duly entered. His motion iii arrest of judgment was also overruled by the court, and his exception to .this ruling was duly saved; and the court rendered judgment on the general verdict, from which judgment he.appealed to this court.

The following alleged errors have been assigned by the appellant, in this court:

“ 1st. The complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action ;

“ 2d. The court erred in overruling the appellant’s motion for a new trial;

“ 3d. The court erred in overruling the appellant’s mo- • tion for the taxation of costs to the plaintiff; and,

“ 4th. The court erred in overruling the appellant’s ambition in arrest of judgment.”

The first and fourth of these alleged errors might properly be considered together, as they each call in question, to a.limited extent, the sufficiency of the appellee’s complaint — the fourth, after trial and verdict in the circuit court, and the first, after judgment and appeal therefrom— for the first time in this court. But these errors, if they existed, have been expressly waived by the appellant’s counsel in their brief of this cause.

In the appellant’s motion for a new trial, the following alleged causes therefor were assigned:

1. Misconduct of the jury, in this, that each of the ju[109]*109rors stated the sum which, in his opinion, the plaintiff should recover; said sums were then added together, and the aggregate was divided by twelve, and the quotient was taken as the verdict;

2. Eor error in the assessment of the amount of recovery, the same being too large ;

3. The verdict of the jury was contrary to law ;

4. The verdict' of the jury was not sustained by sufffcient evidence;

5. The court erred in giving the jury instructions numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11, which were excepted to at the time by the appellant;

6. The court erred in refusing to give the jury instructions numbered 13 and 14, offered by the appellant, to which refusal he excepted at the time ; and,

7. ' The court erred in overruling the appellant’s motion for judgment in his favor, on the special findings of the jury.'

The appellant’s attorneys have expressly waived, in their argument of this cause, the first, second and seventh of these causes for a new trial, thus leaving, for our consideration and decision, such questions only as may he fairly presented under the third, fourth, fifth and sixth of the alleged causes for a new trial.

Before considering the alleged error of the court, in giving the jury the instructions complained of, it is proper that we should state the substance of the affirmative paragraphs of the appellant’s answer.

' The first paragraph of the answer, as we have said, was .a- general denial of the complaint.

In the. second paragraph, the appellant alleged, in substance, that, on the 15th day of July, 1874, he and the appellee had- a settlement of all accounts and matters then between them, and had since that time had no dealings ; and that, at the time of said settlement, the appellee ack[110]*110nowledged that he owed the appellant the sum of five hundred and ten dollars and thirty-seven cents, and made his note for that sum.

In the third paragraph of his answer, the appellant set up that, at the May term, 1875, of the Kosciusko Circuit Court, in a suit wherein he was plaintiff, and the appellee was defendant, all the matters in the complaint mentioned were adjudicated. upon and finally adjusted, and that the appellee was estopped from setting them up in this action.

The third paragraph of appellant’s answer was a general plea of payment in full of the account sued on in appellee’s .complaint, before the commencement of this action.

To the affirmative paragraphs of appellant’s answer, the appellee’s only reply, as we have seen, was a general denial thereof.

With this statement of the issues in the cause, we proceed to the consideration of the seventh instruction of the court to the jury, complained of by the appellant as erroneous. This instruction was as follows:

“ 7th.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ross v. Preferred Accident Insurance
28 Haw. 404 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1925)
Smith v. Tilton
101 A. 722 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1917)
Morgan v. Bankers Trust Co.
119 P. 1116 (Washington Supreme Court, 1912)
Hoffbauer v. Morgan
88 N.E. 337 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1909)
American Car & Foundry Co. v. Clark
70 N.E. 828 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1904)
Downing v. State
69 P. 264 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1902)
Richardson v. League
52 N.E. 618 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1899)
Callaway v. Mellett
44 N.E. 198 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1896)
Holt v. Pearson
41 P. 560 (Utah Supreme Court, 1895)
Arcade File Works v. Juteau
40 N.E. 818 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1895)
Miller v. McDonald
39 N.E. 159 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1894)
Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway Co. v. Renicker
35 N.E. 1047 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1893)
Spades v. Murray
28 N.E. 709 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1891)
Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway Co. v. Neff
28 Fla. 373 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1891)
Rapp v. Kester
25 N.E. 141 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1890)
Moorhouse v. Donaca
13 P. 112 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1887)
Murray v. Silver City, D. & P. R.
3 N.M. 337 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1886)
Brown v. Will
2 N.E. 283 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)
Taylor v. Burk
91 Ind. 252 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1883)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 Ind. 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/terry-v-shively-ind-1878.