Barron v. Jackson
Barron v. Jackson
Opinion of the Court
This is a petition for a new trial of the action, Jackson & Norris against Asa T. Barron, upon the ground that the plaintiff in interest in that suit, fraudulently induced a witness, Mrs. Rogers, to keep out of tbe way, and avoid the service of a subpcena obtained by said Barron, to compel her attendance as a witness in that cause; and also that he promised and gave her a pecuniary reward for sustaining, by her testimony upon the stand, the statements in a deposition given by her.
It appeared that after giving her deposition, at the request of the plaintiffs, to facts of vital importance to them, her attendance was procured by the defendant at the trial, and she then testified in direct opposition to the material statements in the deposition. At a subsequent trial of the cause the defendant made efforts for several weeks to obtain service of a subpcena upon her, but was unable to succeed until after her deposition had been read by the plaintiffs, when her attendance was obtained, but upon placing her upon the stand she confirmed her deposition.
The promise of reward to induce a reluctant witness to testify in a particular way, is a much graver offence, and affords just grounds for such suspicion as would ordinarily incline the court to set aside a verdict, if in favor of the party who is guilty of such misconduct. In these cases the court has no means of ascertaining the extent of the wrong done by such misconduct, nor is there occasion for any critical examination upon that point. The offence is of a character so odious, and so utterly at war with the due course of justice, that, when once established, its injurious effect would ordinarily be taken for granted, unless very clearly disproved.
These views are very fully sustained by the case of Crafts v. Union Ins. Co., 36 N. H. 44. A new trial must, therefore, be granted, by way of review.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.