Lenhart v. Allen
Lenhart v. Allen
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The only assignment of error in this case is
This is not a case of attempted withdrawal of clearly incompetent testimony, discovered after admitted to be so, but one in which the testimony for one purpose was competent, but which might peradventure have an effect beyond its legitimate purpose. In the former case, we have recently decided, in the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. v. Barnes & Harlan, 7 Casey 193, that this court will supervise the action of the court below in cases of this kind, and will reverse for the admission of evidence discovered to have been incompetent, unless it clearly appear that it was so effectually withdrawn from the consideration of the jury, by the court, as to work no injury to the party objecting. The authorities cited by the counsel for the plaintiffs in error touch this point, and are in accordance with this recent ruling. But the case in hand is not of this character. In this case, the witness was competent, and his testimony was relevant to the issue, and no rule of evidence has been discovered to exclude it. There is nothing whatever in the suggestion, that a party about to be charged might, by this means, diminish his liability in amount by increasing the number of his partners, and that such would be the effect of the admission in this ease. It would not do to change the rules of evidence, because of the suggestion of impracticable difficulties and improbable results. Such a ease has as yet no precedent, and even if such a thing should occur, the party would in the end be obliged to answer over to those who had been made unjustly to contribute to the payment of his debt. But it is unnecessary to pursue this course of reasoning. The plaintiff was clearly entitled to the testimony to prove Lenhart’s connection with the firm as a partner. The same thing was done in Taylor & Fitzsimmons v. Henderson, 17 S. & R. 453; and, on argument of the exception in this court, the case was affirmed, C. J. Gibson saying, in delivering the opinion of the court, that “ the declarations of Mr.
We see no error in this record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.