Serlich v. Stern
Serlich v. Stern
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The complaint set forth in the first and second assignments of error is that the court erred in refusing to give binding instructions for the defendant. The points are predicated of the fact that the defendant consulted his attorney and acted on his advice with respect to the bringing of the prosecution. The requests for instructions could not have been affirmed, however, in the form in which they are presented for the reason that they exclude consideration of the question whether a full and candid disclosure of all of the facts within the knowledge of the prosecutor was made to his attorney, and
The third assignment is without support; the portion of the charge therein quoted is merely a statement of the ground on which the plaintiff based his action. It does not contain any instructions or expression as to the law or the evidence.
The fourth assignment relates to instruction on the subject of punitive damages. It is well established law that the reckless and unwarranted use of criminal proc-' ess for purposes of intimidation or to compel the payment of money or the restoration of property may subject a defendant to punitive damages. Whether the evidence in a given case discloses such conduct is ordinarily a question for the jury: Nagle v. Mullison, 34 Pa. 48; Phila. Traction Co. v. Orbann, 119 Pa. 37;
The remarks of counsel referred to in the fifth and sixth assignments because of which the defendant’s counsel requested the withdrawal of a juror do not seem t'o have been brought on the. record in an appropriate way and might be disregarded. The language attributed to the plaintiff’s counsel in the fifth assignment appears to have been part of a discussion of the law relating to punitive damages. As restated by the court no harm could be done and we are not convinced that the defendant was in any wise prejudiced. The court did not regard the language said to have been used as set forth in the sixth assignment as requiring special notice and judicial discretion was not violated in refusing the -bequest of the defendant for the withdrawal of a juror.
The case was fully heard and carefully tried by the learned trial judge and we do not find any error to support a reversal.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.