Village of Monroeville v. Weihl

13 Ohio C.C. 689
CourtOhio Circuit Courts
DecidedNovember 15, 1894
StatusPublished

This text of 13 Ohio C.C. 689 (Village of Monroeville v. Weihl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Circuit Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Village of Monroeville v. Weihl, 13 Ohio C.C. 689 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1894).

Opinion

Bentley, J.

This is an action in error brought to reverse the judgment of the court of common pleas upon a verdict rendered by the jury in this case in favor of Libbie B. Weihl v. The Village of Monroeville, Ohio, for injuries alleged to have been received by the plaintiff below, from falling upon a certain side-walk, upon a public street, within said village, which was at the time out of repair and dangerous, and which had been so out of repair and dangerous for some length of time, and of which condition it is charged the village officers had notice.

-A motion was made for a new trial after the rendering of a verdict by the jury m favor of the plaintiff below, and being submitted to the court, was overruled and a bill of exceptions was thereafter allowed and filed, and duly made a part of the record of the proceedings.

[691]*691Quite a large number of exceptions were taken to the various rulings of the court during the trial, several of which are now urged upon our attention, and certain of which seem to have been abandoned; that is, certain exceptions that appear noted in the record are not specially called to our attention. So I will simply deal with such as have been noticed by counsel, the first being on page 65, at the bottom, and also on page 66. A witness was testifying in behalf of the plaintiff as to what he had observed cf the side-walk in question, after the injury to the plaintiff below. He had testified in examination in chief, and as would appear from the reading of the record of his testimony, he went along this .«ide-walk in question the same afternoon that the plaintiff below was injured upon it. Upon cross-examination, he indicates that he did not go down there at that time, but that it was sometime during the next day, the day after the injury, and he asserts in his cross-examination that he did not state that he was there the afternoon of the injury, and did not intend to so state, thus indicating that perhaps the testimony he intended to give had been mistaken or misapprehended. At the close of that matter, this occurred: Question put to him: “Now, you say it was the next day after; it wasn’t the same day?” Answer: “No sir, I never said it was the same day.” Defendant’s counsel: “I ask the court to instruct the jury that they are not to consider the testimony of the witness as to the condition of the sidewalk the next day after the injury occurred.” Court: “The testimony is competent.” An exception was noted.

It is true that the condition or situation of an object, soon after it has borne some part in a material controversy, may be given in evidence, — a description of it, as found shortly after the circumstance happened, is competent; however, there comes a time when it would be toe remote to have any proper bearing. There might be an intervening circumstance also, or inter vening circumstances which would indicate that it was incompetent and immaterial. In this case, there was no direct testimony that the walk remained in the same position at the place in question from the time of the injury until the next day when this man passed along. But, taldng into consideration the circumstances, — the description of the walk as it appeared to various witnesses at the time of the accident, and afterwards when this man saw it, we are unable to conclude that this was error prejudicial to the defendant below. It might, or might not have any great bearing, owing to the circumstances, the situation, and the [692]*692time intervening, etc. There being no indication of a change in the side-walk at that place, the inference might be drawn that nothing ha'd been done there after the accident. We are unable to say that the court of common pleas was in absolute error in ruling that the testimony was competent.

A non-prufessional witness was allowed to testify as to the health of the plaintiff below' at. a certain period, and objection was made to that, but it was overruled and exception was taken. Under the rules of law regarding such matters, as laid down in two cases in this state, we think it is not incompetent for a person to speak of the health of another, —that'is, in that general way. Of course, it might not be competent for a non-expert, or non-professional witness to attempt to go into detail and determine the technical disease with which a person was afflicted; but upon the general matter of his health, as to whether a person appears sick or not, we think the ordinary witness may be allowed to speak. So that exception is not allowed.

At the close of the testimony m behalf of the plaintiff below, a moti.on was made to take the case from the jury, because the testimony showed, as it was claimed by the defendant below', that the plaintiff had as much knowledge of the situation of that walk, — of its being out of repair and in dangerous condition, — had the same means of knowledge that the village had, and that the plaintiff should be held to the same rule, and that therefore, as a matter of law, evidence for her ought not to be held to make a case against the village. It should be a very clear, and a very strong case where a motion of that kind is allowed. We think the testimony in this case does not present such a situation as would have warranted the court or common pleas in allowing that motion, and to refuse it was not error.

Objection was made to certain testimony offered by the plaintiff in rebuttal. The defendant below in this case had substantially entered a general denial in °its answer to the claim of the plaintiff below and had put in issue the fact of her being injured, the extent of the injury, the occasion of the injury,and the means by which the supposed injury was inflicted, and the amount of damages suffered etc., and also set up affirmatively that if the plaintiff below was injured, it was owing to her own negligence.

In the course of the trial, the defendant below sought to how, in answer to the plaintiff’s testimony showing that she had been badly injured on this occasion, and had been confined to her lióme a long while by reason of her injuries com[693]*693plained of, and had uterine diffieulites, — I say the defendant below, in answer to such testimony, sought to show two things or matters that might be viewed under two aspects: The defendant below was claiming all the while that she was not injured in the manner that she complains of; the village also sought to show that she had, in fact, had the difficulties that she complained of as resulting from this injury, long before that, and had been treated on account of them and was, in fact, an invalid and unhealthy in this respect, before the happening of this injury at all. The village had called Doctort Callen who had testified to things tending strongly to show, if his testimony was true, that this claim of the village was correct; at least, that there was some basis for it. The witness Callen spoke by deposition which had been taken sometime before the trial. In the course of the deposition, the Doctor testified to being called by her, or for her, in the year 1889, I think, — this injury having occurred in 1892; that he had treated her for uterine difficulties,and that substantially like symptoms then prevailed that she claimed to have prevailed after the infliction of this injury.

Quite a considerable testimony was given by Doctor Callen respecting this matter, — regarding his treatment of her.

On cross-examination it was sought to affect this testimony, and the doctor was inquired of as to whether he had ever treated her prior to this injury more than once, or on more than one occasion, and he said he had not.

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Bluebook (online)
13 Ohio C.C. 689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-of-monroeville-v-weihl-ohiocirct-1894.