Wills v. Anchor Cartage & Storage Co.

176 N.E. 680, 38 Ohio App. 358, 10 Ohio Law. Abs. 440, 1930 Ohio App. LEXIS 574
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 3, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 176 N.E. 680 (Wills v. Anchor Cartage & Storage Co.) 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
Wills v. Anchor Cartage & Storage Co., 176 N.E. 680, 38 Ohio App. 358, 10 Ohio Law. Abs. 440, 1930 Ohio App. LEXIS 574 (Ohio Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

Levine, J.

The parties appear in the same order they did in the trial court. Anna H. Wills is herein referred to as plaintiff, the Anchor Cartage & Storage Company, as the Anchor Co., and the Grennan Cake Company as the Grennan Company.

The suit is for personal injuries, and comes to this court by error proceedings from the common pleas court. Originally the action was brought by the plaintiff against the Anchor Co. Soon there *360 after the Grennan Company was made a party defendant. The canse was first tried in the common pleas court against these two defendants only, and resulted in a verdict in favor of both defendants. The plaintiff prosecuted error to this court (Wills v. Anchor Cartage & Storage Co., 26 Ohio App., 66, 159 N. E., 124), which reversed the judgment entered upon the verdict in favor of the defendants, and remanded the cause for a new trial. The substance of the reversing entry is to be found in the statement that “the cause is reversed for error in the charge of the court and as being manifestly against the weight of the evidence. ’ ’

After the cause was remanded for a new trial, and before it came again to be tried, the plaintiff made Arthur L. Moley a party defendant, and when the cause again came on for trial there were three defendants. When the matter was again tried to a jury plaintiff requested a special verdict under favor of Section 11462, General Code. Thereupon counsel for each of the parties prepared forms which each thought the jury ought to sign, this being the usual practice under Rheinheimer v. Ætna Life Ins. Co., 77 Ohio St., 360, 83 N. E., 491, 15 L. R. A. (N. S.), 245, and these went to the jury room, and the jury signed the form prepared by counsel for the plaintiff, with certain additional matter written in with a pen. The jury found that, if the plaintiff was entitled to judgment on its verdict, her damages amounted to $20,000. Then followed lengthy argument and briefs of counsel, and, after the same were submitted to the trial court, the court entered judgment on the special verdict in favor of plaintiff and against defendant Moley, for $20,000, and entered *361 judgment thereon in favor of defendants the Anchor Co. and the Grennan Company.

Error proceedings are prosecuted to this court from the judgment of the common pleas court. The relief sought by plaintiff is, first, a reversal of the judgment of the common pleas court, and, second, a final judgment in her favor for $20,000 against the Anchor Company and the Grennan Company.

It becomes, of course, necessary to carefully go over the special verdict, which was signed by all twelve jurors. This special verdict is as follows:

“Exhibit B.
In the Court of Common Pleas
“No. 224,856
“State of Ohio, Cuyahoga County, SS.
“Anna Wills, Plaintiff, vs. The Anchor Cartage and Storage Company; The Grennan Cake Company, and Arthur L. Moley, Defendants.
“Findings of Facts.
“We, nine or more of the jury in the above entitled case, find, under the evidence in the case, the facts as follows:
“On the afternoon or evening of April 1st, 1924, the plaintiff, Anna Wills, came from her home in Youngstown, with Arthur Moley, by automobile, over that which is known as the Parkman Road or highway, to Cleveland; that in the evening of that day they attended a performance at Keith’s and shortly thereafter started home, by automobile, along the said highway that they had used in coming to Cleveland; that the automobile in which Miss Wills was riding was an Essex car owned and driven by Moley; that Anna Wills up to the time of the accident had *362 never owned an automobile, had never driven an automobile and when she had ridden in any automobile it had been as a passenger, and she was a passenger in the Essex in going to Cleveland and attempting to return to said Youngstown.
“That the distance from Cleveland to Youngstown along Parkman highway, which was a much used and improved highway, was sixty-seven miles; that from a mile to two miles on the Cleveland side of Parkman is what is known as Young’s hill; that at the top, or crest of said hill, to the left of one using the highway going in the direction of Parkman, was a dwelling house, and at the time of the accident it was occupied, but the house was all dark; that on the Cleveland side of Young’s Hill, for some miles the improved highway was straight and on the Parkman side of Young’s Hill, for about a quarter of a mile, the improved highway was also straight; that the improved part of the highway was eighteen feet wide, and at Young’s- Hill there was soft clay or dirt from two to three feet on either side of the improved highway and then a slope down- into a ditch on either side; that we find these facts, as all others, by the greater weight of the evidence.
“We find that the truck of the corporation defendant, The Anchor Cartage & Storage Co., was used in the business of that company at the time of the accident and before the accident was controlled and operated by one Weagraff who was employed by said Anchor Cartage Company; that said vehicle consisted of a truck which was the motor or power part of said vehicle, and a trailer, and that the trailer at the time was loaded with electric light bulbs and its destination was the city of Cleveland; that there *363

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Related

Globe Indemnity Co. v. Schmitt
68 N.E.2d 130 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1946)
Wills v. Anchor Cartage & Storage Co.
10 Ohio Law. Abs. 440 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
176 N.E. 680, 38 Ohio App. 358, 10 Ohio Law. Abs. 440, 1930 Ohio App. LEXIS 574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wills-v-anchor-cartage-storage-co-ohioctapp-1930.