Washington, Alexandria, & Mount Vernon Railway Co. v. Fincham
Washington, Alexandria, & Mount Vernon Railway Co. v. Fincham
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
1. The first error assigned relates to the introduction of evidence. After offering in evidence certain photographs of the south end of the bridge and the road and tracks, poles, etc., which were not objected to, plaintiff offered another, showing the wagon drawn by one of the horses hitched to it at the time of the accident, and another; the same wagon after repair. It showed two men on the seat and plaintiff standing up in the place testified to by him. Defendant objected “on the ground that it was supposed to have been taken eighteen months after the accident, and after the vehicle had been repaired, and with different horses attached.” The photograph was irrelevant. It tended to shed no light upon any issue in the case, and should not have been admitted. The error, however, was an utterly harmless one. Looking at the picture might possibly have relieved the monotony of the trial, but it could have had no influence on the verdict.
2. The second assignment of error based on exception to the refusal to exclude certain evidence presents a different question. Plaintiff had testified to having good sight and hearing-before the accident; and to the serious impairment of both thereafter, continuing to the time of trial. Other witnesses familiar with him before and after corroborated him. There was no contradiction. The accident occurred June 10, 1910; the verdict was returned May 12, 1912. An eye, ear, and throat specialist was offered by the plaintiff, who testified that he examined plaintiff March 27, 1911, and found his vision reduced about one fifth of the normal vision; his hearing very much reduced in the left ear; not likely hearing will get better;
The objection assumes that this examination was made to elicit evidence for use in the trial merely,—an assumption for which there is no foundation in the record. The examination occurred more than a year before the trial. Had it not been for treatment of the ailment, the fact could and should have been elicited when the witness was under cross-examination. There was no error in refusing to exclude the evidence. Northern P. R. Co. v. Urlin, 158 U. S. 271-275, 39 L. ed. 977-981, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 840. See also Fleming v. Springfield, 154 Mass. 520-522, 26 Am. St. Rep. 268, 28 N. E. 910.
3. There was no error in refusing to direct a verdict for defendant at the close of the evidence. The court charged the
4. The first special instruction given for the plaintiff submitted this issue fairly to the jury, and the exception to it was not well taken.
5. The defendant’s sixth special instruction reads as follows: “The court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence that the plaintiff’s injury was caused by the concurrent negligence of the motorman and either the plaintiff or Smith, due to each failing to keep a proper lookout or otherwise, they must find for the defendant, even though they may think the motorman was more to blame than either Smith or Fincham
The court modified this instruction by striking out the words which have been italicized, for convenience, in copying it; and to this modification exception was taken; no special ground of objection being stated. There was no error in the modification. There was no question of comparative negligence. The court had given an instruction for the defendant to the effect that there was no actionable negligence on the part of the defendant prior to the time that plaintiff went or was driven upon the track. Again, in stating the issue it was said: “It eliminates every other question of negligence except that of the
6. The last assignment of error is on the refusal of the defendant’s seventh special instruction:
“The court instructs the jury that preponderating proof that the defendant was negligent in trying to stop its car after discovering the plaintiff’s peril, and that such negligence contributed essentially to the injury of the plaintiff at the time, place, and manner therein set forth, are essential to the plaintiff’s right to recover, and if the evidence fails to preponderate on either of these points in favor of the plaintiff, or is equally balanced on either of these points, or preponderates in favor of the defendant on either of these points, then their verdict must be in favor of the defendant.”
Instead, the court gave the following:
“The court instructs the jury that burden of proof is upon the plaintiff to establish that the defendant was negligent in trying to stop its car after discovering the plaintiff’s peril, and that such negligence contributed essentially to the injury of the plaintiff at the time, place, and manner set forth in the plaintiff’s declaration, and if the evidence fails to sustain such burden of proof on either of these points in favor of the plaintiff, or is equally balanced on either of these points, or preponderates in favor of the defendant on either of these points, then their verdict must.be in favor of the defendant.”
We perceive no substantial difference in meaning between the
We are satisfied that the evidence was such as to require its submission to the jury, and that the charge of the court fairly embodied the governing principles of the law that have been declared by this court in like cases. See Washington R. & Electric Co. v. Cullember, 39 App. D. C. 316, and cases therein cited.
The judgment is affirmed with costs. ' Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WASHINGTON, ALEXANDRIA, & MOUNT VERNON RAILWAY COMPANY v. FINCHAM
- Cited By
- 2 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeal and Error; Experts; Eailroads; Negligence; Direction op Verdict; Instructions to Jury. 1. The admission, in a personal injury action against a railway company, oí irrelevant evidence, sucb as a photograph of the wagon in which plaintiff was riding when injured in the railway accident, taken many months after the accident and after the wagon had been repaired, which evidence could have had no influence on the verdict of the jury, is harmless error, for which the judgment will not be reversed. 2. Evidence of a specialist as to the result of an examination by him of the plaintiff’s eyes and ears more than a year before the trial of an action for personal injuries, but after the plaintiff was injured, in which action the plaintiff claims his sight and hearing were good before the accident, is properly admitted, where there is nothing in the record to show that such examination was not made for treatment of the ailment, or was made merely to elicit evidence for use in the trial, and although the testimony of the witness was partly based upon statements made to him by the plaintiff. 3. Refusal to direct a verdict for defendant in an action against an electric railway company for personal injuz-ies resulting from a collision between a car of the defendant and a wagon in which the plaintiff was riding is proper, where the jury are permitted to view the scene of the injury, and where the evidence is conflicting as to the distance of the car when the wagon reached the track, and whether by the exercise of ordinary care, under the circumstances, the motorman could have stopped the car; after he saw the wagon on the track, in time to have avoided the collision, as it cannot be said that but one reasonable conclusion, and that in favor of defendant, could be arrived at from the evidence. (Citing Washington B. & Electric Co. v. Cullember, 39 App. D. C. 316.) 4. In an action for personal injuries, that part of an instruction requested by the defendant which relates to the question of comparative negligence is properly stricken out by. the trial court, where there.is no such question involved in the ease. 5. Substitution by the trial court of a different instruction for one asked by the defendant in an action for personal injuries is not reversible error, where there is no substantial difference in meaning between the two instructions, and where all possible misunderstanding by the jury is prevented by the language of the general charge.