Nuessle v. Western Asphalt Paving Corp.
Nuessle v. Western Asphalt Paving Corp.
Opinion of the Court
The facts of this ease are vei’y similar to the
Plaintiff alleged, in an amendment to Count 5 of her petition, that her health was seriously and permanently affected, and that the impairment of her health continued to the present time, and is permanent. The court, in stating the issues to the jury, repeated almost verbatim the language of the petition upon this point. In Paragraph 17 of Instruction 20, the court said:
“You are instructed that the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she was injured in her health and became nervous and ill by the acts of defendant substantially as charged in Paragraphs 6 and 7 of these instructions; and she must farther prove by a preponderance of the evidence that said acts referred to in Paragraphs 6 and 7 of this charge were proximate cause of the injury to her health and to her nerves, and she must farther show by a preponderance of evidence the amount of such damage to her health, as set forth in Paragraphs 6 and 7 of these instructions, not to exceed the sum of $3,500, the amount claimed in Paragraph 6.”
Paragraph 6, referred to in this subdivision of the instruction, is the paragraph of the court’s charge in which the issue of the alleged permanent impairment and injury to the health of plaintiff was stated. No other reference is to be found in the instructions to the question of permanent damages. A motion was made by appellant, at the close of all the testimony, to direct
It is contended by appellee that, as no motion was made to withdraw the issue of permanent injuries from the jury upon the ground that there was no evidence to sustain the same, and that, as the submission thereof is not made a ground of the motion for a new trial, appellant cannot be heard to complain. No motion was made to withdraw the issue from the jury, but, as stated, exception was preserved to the instruction, upon the ground that the evidence did not justify its submission; and the same ground is urged in the motion for a new trial. The exception to the instruction was sufficient to raise the question. Jones v. Spencer, 188 Iowa 94.
We have repeated^ held that, notwithstanding the fact that failure to renew, at the close of all the evidence, a motion for a directed verdict made during the trial, operated as a waiver of the right to predicate error upon the ruling, this does not preclude the defeated party from setting up, in a motion for a new trial, the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. State v. Asbury, 172 Iowa 606; Boyd v. Buick Automobile Co., 182 Iowa 306; State v. Chambers, 179 Iowa 436; Heiman v. Felder, 178 Iowa 740; Warren v. Graham, 174 Iowa 162.
No medical testimony was offered, and plaintiff testified that she did not, until after the removal of the plant, consult a doctor. The testimony tended to show that her health was fairly good before the plant was erected, and that she was rendered very nervous by the noise and obnoxious fumes emanating from the plant when in operation; that she was unable to sleep; that her stomach became deranged, and she suffered very severe nervous headaches and other discomfort and injuries. She admitted that she was better at the time of the trial, but testified that:
“I have overcome the nervousness to a certain extent, but am not cured, and still have spells when I get so nervous, and have these nervous headaches. I am still unable to do all my own work. I am better, but not able to do my own work, and not able to do any sewing at all, at the present time. I did not have headaches or stomach trouble before the plant started to operate. My health is not as good at the present time as it was before the plant started to operate.”
No allegation was made in the petition for damages on account of future physical or mental pain and suffering, and no reference is made thereto in the court’s charge to the jury. No doubt, plaintiff was entitled to recover for future pain and suffering, as well as for impairment of her health, whether permanent or not, if properly shown; but the evidence, in our opinion, was wholly insufficient to justify the submission to the jury of the issue of permanent damage. There was no evidence that her health was permanently impaired, or from which the jury could
It was error to submit to the jury the issue of the permanent' impairment of plaintiff’s health, and the motion for new trial should have been sustained.
Other rulings assigned as error are either without merit or not sufficiently prejudicial to justify a reversal. They are not likely to be committed upon a retrial of the ease. For the error pointed out above, the judgment is — Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Molly Nuessle v. Western Asphalt Paving Corporation
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- 3 cases
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- Published