Parker v. Hutchinson
Parker v. Hutchinson
Opinion of the Court
The dispute between the parties is almost completely factual and in it being resolved against the defendant by the jury and trial court we see no error. Contrary to defendant’s many contentions no inadmissible evidence was received against him; the evidence was sufficient to support the claim and verdict; the issues that the case was tried on were appropriate and the jury was correctly instructed on them.
Of defendant’s eleven assignments of error only three require discussion. By assignments 3, 5 and 6 defendant contends that the court erred in receiving evidence as to two written contracts he entered into with others. He argues that the evidence was inadmissible because under our law that a contract was made with another cannot be used to prove that the same kind of contract was made between the parties. Doub v. Hauser, 256 N.C. 331, 123 S.E. 2d 821 (1962). Though that is certainly established law, it has no application to this case. The challenged evidence does not tend to show that defendant entered into a similar contract with plaintiffs and it was received for a different purpose, one clearly sanctioned by elemental principles of law. As the above summary of the evidence indicates, the main issue that the jury had to decide was whether defendant or Chick Haven Feed Service, a corporation
No error.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
In my opinion, the evidence plaintiff was allowed to present of other egg-gathering contracts entered into with other persons by defendant in his individual capacity went right to a principal issue in the case. It was prejudicial error to admit this evidence, and I would therefore award defendant a new trial.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.