Jacksonville Street Railroad v. Walton
Jacksonville Street Railroad v. Walton
Opinion of the Court
In the transcript of the record brought here by writ of error from the Circuit Court of Duval county in this cause there are two bills of exceptions, the bill of exceptions proper and an evidentiary bill of exceptions. The defendants in error now make two motions, both aimed at the bill of exceptions proper. The first of these motions asks that the entire bill of exceptions be stricken from the record, on the grounds:
1st. That it is not a true and correct copy of the bill of exceptions signed by the Circuit Judge.
3rd. Bdcause the statement of testimony in said bill of exceptions upon which the 1 st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 24th and 25th charges were predicted is not confined to the substance of such portion of the proof only as were pertinent to the charges, as required by the rule, but contain statements of evidence not pertinent to the charge, and upon which said charges were not predicated, and in many instances omits entirely to state the evidence upon which said charges were predicated.
4th. Because the statement of testimony in said bill of exceptions upon which the 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st charges were predicated does not comply with the rules of the Supreme Court', in that said statements do not contain the evidence at all upon which said charges were predicated, but contain statements of evidence upon which other and different charges were predicated.
5th. -Because the statements of testimony, upon which the several charges were predicated are in conflict with rules of the Supreme Court, in that they attempt to give a summary of all the testimony applicable to all the charges, and are not confined only to' the proof upon which the particular charge was predicated as required by the rules.
6th. Because said bill of exceptions is in conflict with the rules of the Supreme Court, in that after setting forth the testimony upon which each charge was predicated, the bill of exceptions purports to give a summary of the testimony offered by the plaintiff in error tending
7th. Because it does not appear from the record that the bill of exceptions has ever been filed.
The second of these motions asks, seriatim, that each of the charges given at the request of the plaintiffs below, and numbered 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 849, 10, u, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, be stricken from the bill of exceptions, together with the statement of testimony on which said charges were, respectively, predicated, and the statement under each of said charges of what the testimony of the plaintiff in error tended to prove, because such statements of testimony, respectively, do not comply with the rules of the Supreme Court, and do not correctly state the testimony upon which the said charges were respectively predicated. And to strike from the bill of exceptions, seriatim, the charges numbered respectively 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st, together with the statements’of evidence upon which said charges purport, respectively, to have been predicated, and the statement in connection there-with of what the testimony on behalf of the plaintiff in error tended to prove, because said statements of evidence do not contain any part of the evidence upon which said last mentioned charges were, respectively, predicated.
The first ground of the first of these motions, asserting that the bill of exceptions as contained in the transcript of the record is not-a true and correct copy of the original as signed by the Circuit Judge, is sought to be sustained by an exhibition here, by special order of the Circuit Judge, of the original bill of exceptions.
Another ground of the first motion that we will have to dispose of as a preliminar)' question is, that it does not appear from the transcript of the record that the bill of exceptions has ever been filed with the clerk of the court below. It is true that the transcript does
The remaining grounds of the first motion, seeking to strike the entire bill of exceptions, are that said bill in stating the evidence upon which divers charges were predicated violates the rules in not confining such statements of evidence to such portions only of the proofs as were pertinent to said charges, respectively, and upon which alone they were, respectively, predicated, but goes further, and unnecessarily gives in connection therewith other evidence introduced to disprove or rebut the evidence upon which such charges were, respectively, predicated. And because such bill of exceptions violates the rules, in that in its exhibition of divers other charges excepted to and assigned as error, it fails entirely to give any evidence at all upon which such charges were respectively predicated, but gives other evidence entirely
Recurring now to the assault made upon the bill of exceptions proper, we find that in its statements of the evidence upon which the charges given at the request of the plaintiffs below, and excepted to by the defendant from number one to number twenty-five, both inclusive, were predicated, it not onfy states the evidence
The three following charges numbered respectively 26, 27 and 28 were given, as shown by the bill of exceptions, at the request of the plaintiffs below, were severally expected to by the defendant below and are assigned as error:
26th. “If, after considering the evidence, you arrive at the conclusion that the plaintiff, Margaret E. Walton, is entitled to damages from the defendant for the injuries she sustained, you have a right to consider the extent of such injuries and whether or not they are calculated to be permanent in their effect. If you believe from the evidence that her injuries were such as required the amputation 'of one of her legs below the knee, then you have a right to conclude that such injuries will permanently cripple her for life, and have also the right to consider to what extent it has impaired her capacity for performing her household duties, and whether or not it has impaired her capacity for the care of her children. You have also the right to consider the*68 pain and suffering she has endured as a result of such injuries. You have also the right to consider her age, condition of health, and her life probabilities; you have also the right to consider the character of the act of negligence complained of, and, after considering all these facts, give to her such damages as will fairly compensate her for the injuries she has sustained, and suffering she has been called upon to endure, by the negligence of the defendant.”
27th. “Under the laws of the State in cases of this kind the husband of a married woman who is necessarily joined as co-plaintiff has the right to add claims of his own for an injury done to his wife, and in case the husband claims damages for injuries done to him by reason of the loss of his wife’s society and services. You have a right in considering your verdict to take into consideration to what extent the injuries inflicted upon the plaintiff, Margaret E. Walton, has deprived her husband of her companionship and services; whether or not such injuries impair her capacity for the proper performance of her household duties and deprive her husband of her proper and efficient services and of her usefulness as a helpmate, and whether or not such impairment is of a temporary character, or 'must necessarily exist during the lifetime of the -wife. If you believe that such impairment exists for life, you have a right to take the fact into consideration in rendering- your verdict. You have also the right to consider what expenses the husband has incurred in the shape of medical services, and also such additional expenses as are set forth in the declaration rendered necessary by reason of the injuries inflicted on the wife in making up your verdict in favor of the husband, if you believe from the evidence that he is entitled to damages.”
*69 28th. “The husband is entitled to his wife’s society in the same condition of health as she was when the negligence of another impaired her health, strength and usefulness as a helpmate to him, and any diminution of her capacity for usefulness and aid and comfort as a wife constitutes a basis for consideration for damages, and if you believe from the evidence that the negligence of the defendant was the proximate cause of the injuries inflicted on the plaintiff, you have the right to consider to what extent her injuries have impaired her usefulness, aid and comfort to her husband in estimating the damages to which the plaintiffs are entitled.”
In connection with and following after each one of these three charges is the following statement of evidence that the bill of exceptions asserts to be the evidence upon which each of said charges was predicated: “When the street car came to the track of the F., C. & P. R. R. Company, there was a train on the railroad track, and the street car stopped and went on. An engine was on the railroad track and moving when first seen. There was further testimony upon the part of the plaintiffs tending to prove that the locomotive was standing up the street a little piece at the time Mrs. Walton was on the ground. There was further testimony upon the part of the plaintiffs tending to prove that the street car jerked up suddenly at the crossing, stopped an instant ami then went across the track, and as it moved, the plaintiff, Margaret E. Walton, fell, and that the car stopped just across the first rail of the first track. There was further testimony upon the part of the plaintiffs tending to prove that as the street cars are nearing the railroad track it is customary to stop still, but it seemed this one did not, but dragged slowly over the track, and that the engine was very near and was
It will be observed that these charges are upon the measure of damages to persons occupying the relationship of husband and wife, accruing to each, when suing jointly for personal injuries sustained by the wife through the defendant’s alleged negligence, and by reference to the statement of evidence purporting to be that upon which each of them was predicated it wilt readily be seen that it is an entire misfit, the evidence given being confined to a detail of the circumstances of the occurrence that tend to establish the negligence com
The 30th and 31st charges given at the plaintiffs’ request are as follows:
30th. “A case of this kind is not decided on any question of reasonable doubt, but upon a preponderance of evidence. By preponderance of evidence is not meant the side which produces the greatest number of witnesses, but upon the weight of the testimony, regard*73 less of the number of the witnesses who have testified on either side.”
31st. “You are the sole judges of the weight of the testimony and the credibility of the witnesses. You have the right to reject the evidence of any witness if you regard it as unreasonable and as in conflict with other evidence that you believe t® be true. You have a right to consider the animus of the witnesses, and interest they may have in the result, and to determine the correctness of their evidence by comparing it with all the facts and circumstances detailed by other witnesses which you believe to be true, and if you believe that the testimony of any witness has been rebutted or shown to be incorrect on material points, you have a right to rejeSt the whole of the evidence of such witness.”
The bill of exceptions sets out under each of these two charges substantially the same statement of evidence as above set forth in connection with charges numbers 26, 27 and 28, and asserts that they were both predicated upon such testimony. Neither of-these two charges hypothesized any state of facts or statement of fact, but both of them announced abstract propositions of law that were not dependent for their propriety or appropriateness upon any particular state of facts or fact, and it was not necessary, therefore, to their proper review by an appellate court that any evidence should have been set forth as being the groundwork thereof, and in the ultimate consideration of the case this court will ignore, as surplusag-e', the inappropriate statement of evidence- purporting to have formed their predicate.
In the investigation of the questions presented by the two motions discussed we find another assignment of error so imperfectly exhibited in the bill of exceptions proper that we will have to refuse to consider it on
It is proper in this connection to remind the trial judges that while it is the duty of counsel in the first instance to correctly and truly prepare bills of exception for his signature, yet that a bill of exceptions in appellate proceedings is an expose of the happenings in pais in the trial of causes before them, and that such a bill depends for its authenticity upon their certification over their hands and seals, and that when so certified it imports to an appellate court absolute verity, and cannot be altered, amended, averred against or impeached in the appellate court by anything' dehors the certified record, and that, therefore, so- grave is the responsibility resting upon them officially in the solemn certification of such bills, that the duty devolves upon them to see to it carefully that such bills are so prepared before certifi
The result of what has been said is that both the motions, the first to strike the entiie bill of exceptions, and the second to’ strike certain designated parts thereof, will be denied, but to adjudge that the court in the final consideration of the case will not consider the second assignment of error, nor the assignments of error predicated upon the giving of the 26th, 27th and 28th charges at the request of the plaintiffs below, and it is so ordered.
In my opinion, the motions to strike the bill of exceptions and certain parts thereof should be denied, but as I do not agree with all that is said in the opinion prepared by the Chief Justice, I shall proceed to state my views regarding the questions presented by the motions.
I. The first ground of the motion to' strike the bill is based upon the assumption that the bill certified to us is not a true and correct copy of the original of which it purports to be’ If we admit that this assumption is true, it furnishes no ground to strike the bill from the record, but would be good ground for awarding a certiorari upon a timely suggestion of diminution of the record under rule 15. Sams v. King, 18 Fla. 552; Hall v. Durham, 113 Ind. 327, 15 N. E. Rep. 529. On suggestion of diminution of the record, a writ of certiorari is effectual to bring to this court the true and correct record, no matter in what respect the transcript as certified in the first instance may vary from or misrepresent
II. A paper is filed when it is delivered to the proper officer and by him received to be kept on file. The usual file mark is but one evidence of its having been filed. County Commissioners of Franklin County v. State ex rel. Patton, 24 Fla. 55, 3 South Rep. 471. In this case we have the bill of exceptions certified to us by the officer to whom it should have been delivered for filing, and he certifies that it is a true copy of a paper in the case of Walton and wife v. The Jacksonville Street Railway Company, as appears upon the records and Mes of his office. In the absence of any evidence that the bill of exceptions was not filed, this is sufficient (State ex rel. Thompson v. Board of Equalization of Washoe county, 7 Nev. 83), especially in view of the fact that our rules do not contemplate that the file marks upon a paper shall be copied into the transcript unless demanded by one of the parties, and that no such demand was made in this case.
III. The other objections raised by these motions may be divided into two classes: first, those which complain that under certain exceptions more of the evidence is stated than the rules of this court for preparing bills of exceptions contemplate; and, second, those which complain that the evidence under other exceptions is either untruly stated, or entirely omitted. These I will consider in the order named.
1st. A cursory reading of the rides adopted by this court governing the preparation of bills of exceptions will show that their prime object is to secure brevity, by eliminating all unnecessary matter, and to present to this court in compact form each exception with all
2nd. The objections embraced in this class are of more serious import. Perhaps if it could legally be
While denying the motions to- strike, the court goes further and designates certain exceptions embraced in the ordinary bill, which it now 'decides that it will not consider when the case corned up for hearing upon its merits. This ruling is outside of the scope of the motions to strike, although the legal effect of the ruling accomplishes the same result as if these portions of the bill of exceptions were stricken, vis: there will be no hearing or ruling upon such exceptions. For all practical purposes, they are stricken from the record, for they are eliminated from consideration when the case comes up on its merits. If it be admitted that the ruling here upon that point is not obiter dicta, as being beyond the scope of the motions to strike, it is exceedingly doubtful if we ought, upon a motion made in advance of the hearing, to take up, consider and settle conflicts in the record relating Jo points properly involved in the hearing upon the merits after we have decided that no-
I do not wish to be understood as agreeing to the proposition that charge number 31 asserts an abstract proposition of law not dependent for its propriety upon any particular state of facts. On the contrary, I think it would be highly improper, and in many cases reversible error, for a judge to instruct the jury in the language of that instruction, if in fact the testimony of each witness was reasonable and not in conflict with other evidence in the case, and if the evidence did not tend to show animus or interest on the part of airy witness, and if the testimony of no witness was rebutted or shown to be incorrect on material points. It is dangerous to give instruc
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Jacksonville Street Railroad Company, in Error v. R. J. Walton and Margaret E. Walton, in Error
- Cited By
- 18 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appellate Practice — Bills of Exception, how prepared — Striking parts or the whole of Bills of Exception — Matter erased from Bill before Judge’s Signature — Care to be used in Certifying . —Reference to Evidentiary Bill to test substantial make up of Bill proper. 1. Where the Circuit Judge before certifying and signing a bill of exceptions strikes or erases matter therefrom, such erased or stricken matter forms no part of such bill, and it should be omitted by the clerk in copying such bill into the transcript of the record on writ of error. 2. Where a bill of exceptions is regularly incornorated in a transcript of record that is properly certified by the clerk below to contain a true and correct copy of such “papers and proceedings in said cause as appears upon the records and files of his office,” in the absence of any proper showino- to the contrary, it is sufficient evidence of the fact that such bill of exceptions was filed with the clerk below. 3. The duty devolves upon the plaintiff in error or his counsel upon resort to an appellate court to make the errors complained of clearly to appear, if they in truth exist, by a proper record of all the facts and circumstances pertinent to, and connected with, such alleged error, but in exhibiting them the 'duty likewise devolves upon him to exhibit all such facts and circumstances fairly and truly. And when such matters are exhibited by a bill of exceptions, the duty likewise devolves upon the trial judge to see to it carefully, before giving such 'bill authenticity by his signature and certificate, that it does fairly, fully, truly and justly set forth the matters exhibited thereby exactly hs they transpired at the trial, and this duty is emphasized when it is remembered that a bill of exceptions depends for its authenticity upon the certification and signature thereof by the trial judge, and that when so certified and signed it imports to an appellate court absolute verity, and can not be altered, amended, averred against or impeached in the appellate court by anything dehors the certified record. 4. An evidentiary bill of exceptions, that should contain ail the evidence, but nothing besides the evidence, in the case, was designed for the purpose of entirely separating for appellate review the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, when presented by an appropriate assignment of error, from all other questions raised by any other assignment of error; and, too, for the purpose of determining whether, in view of the whole evidence in the case exhibited thereby, any error found is harmless. The bill of exceptions proper was designed to exhibit all other questions in pais than the sufficiency of the evidence to support the virdict, and should in and of itself, without reference to the evidentiary bill, fully, fairly and truly exhibit all pertinent matters necessary to the proper consideration and adjudication of the different assignments of error thereby expected to be maintained. The h'lll of exceptions proper will never be resorted to to test the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, that question being exclusively confined to a consideration of the whole evidence as set forth and exhibited in and by the evidentiary bill, regardless of such parts or portions of the evidence as may be exhibited in the bill of exceptions proper for the expose therein of other questions assigned as error. While this is the distinctive office of said two respective bills of exception, that will in every case govern and guide the appellate court in the final consideration of eases on thevr merits, and while the court upon such final consideration will not refer from one of such bills of exception to the other in aid of, explanatory of, or to supplement, or to impeach any matter or question that, under the rules, properly belongs exclusively to either, except to determine from the evidentiary bill whether any error found is harmless; yet on a preliminary motion, seasonably made, directly to test the question of compliance with the rules in the make-up of the bill of exceptions proper, the court, for the purpose of determining such question, will resort to the evidentiary bill, as part of the whole authenticated record in the case, when it is urged that such evidentiary bill will disclose the fact that the bill of exceptions proper has been made up in its substance in patent violation of the rules, and in such manner as to make that appear to be error which may not be error were the proper matters set forth in such bill that the rules contemplate it should contain, and that have been omitted therefrom and such evidentiary bill shows could with truth and propriety have been included therein. And upon such preliminary motion the court will not strike out the whole or any part of the bill of exceptions proper, when there are other questions properly presented thereby for adjudication, but upon such motion will adjudge in advance that it will not consider on the final determination of the case, any assignment of error founded upon matter thus improperly set forth. (Carter, J., dissenting) . 5. The well-established rule is that every charge given by the court to the jury must be predicated upon some testimony adduced'in the case tending to sunoort the facts hypothesised m such charge. The design of the rules adopted for the preparation of bills of exception proper in requiring a statement of the evidence, or what the evidence tended to prove in connection with the charge predicated on such evidence, was not for the purpose of testing the truth of such evidence, or as a test - of the weight or preponderance of evidence, but solely for the purpose of disclosing to the appellate court whether or not the above well-settled rule had been observed by the trial judge in his charges of the law of the case to the jury, vis: whether the charges given, or requested and refused, were or were not predicated on sufficient evidence aaduoed in. the case. All that the rules contemplate or require in the exposition of the evidence upon which charges were predicated is that the bill of exceptions proper shall correctly state, in connection with every charge that hypothesises any given state of facts, the evidence actually adduced in the case that tends to establish the particular state of facts hypothesised in such charge, and this in as concise form as is compatible with a just, fair and complete test of the proposition as to whether or not such charge was warranted by the facts adduced in evidence. The testimony adduced in rebuttal or impeachment of the evidence upon which any charge was predicated has no place in the exposition in the bill of exceptions of the evidence upon which such charge was actually predicated; neither should evidence be stated in connection therewith that is wholly foreign to the state of facts hypothesised in the gimen charge. If a charge is given, or requested and refused, by a judge that hypothesises a state of facts or a statement of fact that there was no testimony tending to prove, the fact should be stated in the bill of exceptions that there was no evidence adduced tending to prove the state of facts or fact hypothesised in such charge; or, if there is difference of 'opinion as between counsel and the judge as to the true tendency of the proof conceived to be supportive of any such charge, the particular evidence itself thus conceived to be supportive thereof should be stated in the bill of exceptions, so that the appellate court may determine the applicability of the charge to the proofs thought to be insustenance of it. 6. The rules contemplate that in making up bills of exception based upon the admission or rejection of evidence, where the evidence admitted or rejected, forming the subject of the exception does not in and of itself show upon its face its nertinency and relevancy to the issue being tried, and there is 'other evidence either admitted, or proffered and rejected, that will connect it with the case and show its relevance and pertinence, such other connecting evidence should be set forth in the bill of exceptions so as to enable the appellate court fully and fairly to pass upon the propriety or impropriety of the admission or rejection thereof. Motions to strike bill of exceptions and specified parts thereof denied.