Shepard v. Hatch
Shepard v. Hatch
Opinion of the Court
In rendering judgment for the debt or damages found by verdict, interest shall be added from the time of such finding to the rendition of judgment. Gen. Stats., ch. 213, sec. 1. If, upon review, the amount of damages recovered by the plaintiff is reduced, the defendant shall have judgment for the amount of the reduction and costs. Gen. Stats., ch. 215, sec. 11. At the April term, 1869, the plaintiff recovered a verdict for $530 damages. Upon review at the April term, 1873, the plaintiff recovered a verdict for $283.33 damages.
Independent of any question concerning interest upon either verdict, it is clear that, by virtue of the last of the above statutes, the defendant should have judgment against the plaintiff for $246.67, being the difference between the first and the second verdicts.
The case finds that a judgment was rendered upon the first verdict at the April term, 1870, for $578.76, being the amount of the first verdict and interest from its finding up to the date of judgment. This was right, as the matter then stood. But the first verdict and judgment were erroneous, as determined by the result of the trial in review, — the verdict in review being the amount for which the plaintiff should have recovered damages in the first instance, and the amount upon which he was and is entitled to interest, from its finding till final judgment thereon.
The second verdict determines the amount to which the plaintiff was entitled, not at the date of the second, but at the date of the first verdict. So, too, the amount of reduction, being the difference between the two verdicts, relates to the date of the first verdict; and in rendering judgment the amount of the reduction is the difference between the two verdicts, with interest upon that difference during the time between the two verdicts. The clerk may enter up a judgment such as upon the facts the defendant is entitled to have.
It is uncertain what view may have been taken by the jury in the case before us with regard to interest, and whether the matter entered into their calculations at all in the finding of damages upon the last trial. It is unnecessary to determine this question ; but we are agreed that, hereafter, the convenient and proper way will be to instruct the jury to reckon interest in the verdict on review only to the time of the verdict in the original action. The judgment in review will then bear interest from the date of the verdict in the original action. The interpretation and effect of the final verdict are, that it should be substituted for the former verdict, and take effect as of the date thereof.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
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