Toledo, St. L. & W. R. v. Howe

191 F. 776, 112 C.C.A. 262, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4985
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 7, 1911
DocketNo. 2,112
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 191 F. 776 (Toledo, St. L. & W. R. v. Howe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toledo, St. L. & W. R. v. Howe, 191 F. 776, 112 C.C.A. 262, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4985 (6th Cir. 1911).

Opinion

HOLLISTER, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). Counsel for defendant, complying with rule 24 (150 Fed. xxxiii, 79 [780]*780C. C. A. xxxiii) of this court, sets out in his brief the errors relied on by him :

(1) Error in overruling plaintiff in error’s motion for a peremptory instruction.

(2) Error in closing argument of counsel for defendant in error.

(3) The verdict and judgment are against the law and the evidence.

[1] By the third alleged error relied on, defendant would have this court review the evidence to ascertain whether the verdict was against the evidence or not. .To determine that question, it would, of course, be necessary to weigh the evidence. An appellate cpurt of the United States does not weigh the evidence. The reason is found in the Constitution (amendment 7), which provides that:

“JSTo fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examinable in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

In Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 433, 447, 448 (7 L. Ed. 732), Mr. Justice Story says of this amendment:

“This is a prohibition to. the courts of the United States to re-examine any facts tried by a jury in any other manner. The only modes known to the common law to re-examine such facts are the granting of a new trial by the court where the issue was tried, or to which the record was properly returnable ; or the award of a venire facias de novo, by an appellate court, for some error of law which intervened in the proceedings.”

.It has accordingly been held in many cases that the inquiry ends with the ruling of the trial judge on a motion for a new trial, and in cases in which no motion for a new trial was filed, and reversal was sought directly by proceedings in error, that the weight of the evidence was a matter which appellate courts of the United States have no power to consider. Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 433, 448, 449, 7 L. Ed. 732; Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U. S. 24, 31, 25 L. Ed. 531; Ætna Life Ins. Co. v. Ward, 140 U. S. 76, 91, 11 Sup. Ct. 720, 35 L. Ed. 371; Lincoln v. Power, 151 U. S. 436, 438, 14 Sup. Ct. 387, 38 L. Ed. 224; Erie R. R. Co. v. Winter, 143 U. S. 60, 75, 12 Sup. Ct. 356, 36 L. Ed. 71; Shauer v. Alterton, 151 U. S. 607, 626, 14 Sup. Ct. 442, 38 L. Ed. 286; Davidson S. S. Co. v. United States, 205 U. S. 187, 192, 27 Sup. Ct. 480, 51 L. Ed. 764; Herencia v. Guzman, 219 U. S. 44, 45, 31 Sup. Ct. 135, 55 L. Ed. 81; Graves v. Sanders, 125 Fed. 690, 693, 60 C. C. A. 422; Illinois, etc., R. Co. v. Davies, 146 Fed. 247, 248, 76 C. C. A. 613; Mutual, etc., Co. v. Heidel, 161 Fed. 535, 538, 88 C. C. A. 477.

The whole matter is comprehensively put by Mr. Justice Hughes in Herencia v. Guzman, 219 U. S. 44, 45, 31 Sup. Ct. 135 (55 L. Ed. 81):

“The argument on behalf of plaintiff in error proceeds upon the assumption that this court may review the evidence as to negligence and as to the damages recoverable, and may reverse the judgment if the court is dissatisfied with the findings of the jury. This, however, is not the province of the court upon writ of error. As there was evidence proper for the consideration of the jury, the objection that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence or that the damages allowed were excessive cannot be considered.”

There is no aspect in which the verdict and judgment are presented in the argument or in counsel’s brief, or otherwise, as contrary to [781]*781law, excepting the statement that they were, and that the court erred in overruling the motion for a directed verdict, and that there was misconduct on the part of counsel for the plaintiff in the manner alleged.

The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in applying rule 11 (150 Fed. xxvii, 79 C. C. A. xxvii) of the Circuit Courts of Appeals, disregarded assignments of error that the judgment was contrary to the law and contrary to the evidence, because they did not specify wherein the judgment was contrary to the law and to the evidence. Smith v. Hopkins, 120 Fed. 921, 923, 57 C. C. A. 193. This was, no doubt, a proper application of the rule, and this court may properly disregard any consideration of the evidence in determining whether or not the verdict was contrary to law except so far as it must be considered in determining whether or not the motion for a directed verdict should have been granted. In other words the recognized distinction, as shown by Judge Burton in Mt. Adams, etc., Ry. Co. v. Lowery, 74 Fed. 463, 476, 477, 20 C. C. A. 596, between that amount of evidence which requires a case at its close on' such a motion to be submitted to the jury, and that amount of evidence which is sufficient to sustain a verdict, is not of importance here for the reason as shown that with the weight of the evidence an appellate court of the United States has nothing to do. Obviously, then, the alleged errors narrow down to the claim that the motion for a directed verdict ought to have been granted, and the contention that the verdict ought to be set aside because of alleged misconduct of counsel.

[2] That motion required a consideration of the evidence from the standpoint of its tendency to prove the issues, or, as said by Judge Warrington in Big Brushy, etc., Co. v. Williams, 176 Fed. 529, 532, 99 C. C. A. 102, 105:

“The motion must be overruled, where the testimony presented by the plaintiff, if believed by the jury, will support the petition.”

Other authorities are to the same effect. Mt. Adams, etc., Ry. Co. v. Lowery, 74 Fed. 463, 476, 477, 20 C. C. A. 596; Central, etc., R. Co. v. Mansfield, 169 Fed. 614, 95 C. C. A. 142; Norfolk & Western Ry. Co. v. Hazelrigg, 170 Fed. 551, 95 C. C. A. 637; L. S. & M. S. Ry. Co. v. Eder, 174 Fed. 944, 98 C. C. A. 556; Noble v. Crane Co., 169 Fed. 55, 94 C. C. A. 423.

The issues were the alleged negligence of defendant in maintaining its rails as they were, and the question of the proximate cause of the accident.

It being agreed that contributory negligence is out of the case, and that the negligent conduct of the engineer and of the brakeman, Garee, in backing the train was not in law chargeable to the defendant, and no point being made in this proceeding that Hollopeter assumed the risk involved in the condition of the rails if there was any, the determination of the issues depends upon whether or not Hollopeter caught his foot as alleged; for, if he was knocked down by the car and then run over, the condition of the rails had nothing to do with the accident, however negligently they may have been maintained. Tt is clear, too, that, if his foot was not caught, the cause and only cause of his [782]*782death was the negligent act of his fellow employés, for which there can be no recovery.

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Bluebook (online)
191 F. 776, 112 C.C.A. 262, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4985, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toledo-st-l-w-r-v-howe-ca6-1911.