Arkansas Val Land Cattle Co v. Mann

• Decision Date: 05 March 1889
• Citation: 9 S.Ct. 458,32 L.Ed. 854,130 U.S. 69
• Parties: ARKANSAS VAL. LAND & CATTLE CO., Limited, v. MANN. 1
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

130 U.S. 69

9 S.Ct. 458

32 L.Ed. 854

ARKANSAS VAL. LAND

&

CATTLE CO., Limited, v. MANN.¹

March 5, 1889.

Hugh Butler and Wm. A. Maury, for plaintiff in error.

E. T. Wells and R. T. McNeal, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice HARLAN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action for the recovery of damages for the alleged unlawful conversion by the defendant, the Arkansas Valley Land and Cattle Company (Limited), to is own use, of certain cattle. The complaint, which is framed in conformity with the local law, contains three distinct causes of action.

The first count claims seventy-one thousand dollars in damages for the unlawful conversion, at the county of Weld, Colorado, of fourteen hundred and fifty-two head of Oregon cattle, all branded on the right side or loin with what is commonly known as the bar brand, and of which seven hundred and forty-two were steers, alleged to be of the value of forty-four thousand five hundred and twenty dollars, and seven hundred cows, alleged to be of the value of twenty-one thousand dollars.

The second count claims eight thousand dollars in damages for the conversion by the defendant of one thousand and thirty-six Oregon steers, alleged to be of the value of sixty-two thousand dollars, and marked, among other brands, with the letter "T" on the left side, which cattle R. T. Kelly, A. J. Gillespie, T. E. Gillespie, Louis J. Gillespie, J. F. Gillespie, and G.O. Keck once owned, but their claim for damages, on account of said conversion, had been assigned, transferred and set over to the plaintiff.

The third count claims seventy-one thousand dollars in damages for the conversion of seven hundred head of Oregon cows and twelve bulls, of the alleged value of twenty-one thousand dollars, and fifteen hundred head of young cattle, the increase of the cows last mentioned, and of the actual value of fifty thousand dollars.

Judgment is asked upon all the counts for the sum of two hundred and twenty-one thousand dollars.

There was evidence relating to a herd of about two thousand steers and cows of various ages, all branded, which the plaintiff claimed to have bought from Slagle and Jordan in October, 1880. His contention is that at the time of the purchase that herd was at or near Rock Creek Station on the Union Pacific Railroad, in the Territory of Wyoming; that under an arrangement, part of his contract of purchase, he caused to be shipped, out of this herd, to Omaha or Council Bluffs for sale at prices fixed by that contract, about six hundred head; that the remainder, about fourteen hundred in number, were driven, in the same month, to Sheep Creek Basin, about twenty miles distant from Rock Creek; that in December they fled or drifted before a severe wind and snow-storm from the west and northwest, until they came to the head of Sheep Creek Basin, thence passed over the Black Hills Range and moved in an easterly and southerly direction until they reached the ranch of one Bloomfield, in Colorado, and were by him taken possession of, without right, and sold to the defendant, a corporation of which he was general manager.

There was evidence as to another herd of about 1200 steers, marked with a T brand on the left side, and belonging to Gillespie & Co., which disappeared about the same time from the same region in Wyoming Territory. This herd, it was claimed, also found its way to Bloomfield's ranch, and were by him sold without right to the defendant.

Early in the year 1884, the complainant made demand upon the defendant, through Bloomfield, as its manager, for the above cattle, including those formerly owned by Gillespie & Co., to whose rights the plaintiff had succeeded. The demand was refused upon the ground that the defendant had not received any cattle belonging to the plaintiff.

The answer put in issue the plaintiff's ownership of the cattle described in the complaint, and relied also upon certain facts in bar of any recovery against the defendant. The plaintiff filed a replication controverting all the new matters set out in the answer.

After a protracted trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $39,958.33. There was a motion by the defendant for a new trial, as well as one in arrest of judgment.

The court decided that if the plaintiff would remit the sum of twenty-two thousand eight hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents from the amount of the verdict, the motion for a new trial should be denied; but if he declined to do so, a new trial should be granted. In accordance with this decision, the plaintiff remitted the above sum, and stipulated in writing that judgment might be entered for the sum of $17,125. The motion for a new trial, and the motion in arrest of judgment, were overruled, and judgment was entered for the latter sum. To the action of the court in respect to this remission, and to the order denying the motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment, the defendant excepted.

1. The point was much pressed at the bar that the remission by the plaintiff of a part of the verdict, followed by a judgment for the sum remaining, deprived the defendant of his constitutional right to have the question of damages tried by a jury, without interference upon the part of the court, except as it became necessary to instruct them in reference to the principles of law governing the determination of that question. The precise contention is that to make the decision of the motion for a new trial depend upon a remission of part of the verdict is, in effect, a re-examination by the court, in a mode not known at the common law, of facts tried by the jury and therefore was a violation of the seventh amendment of the constitution. The counsel for the defendant admits that the views expressed by him are in conflict with the decision in Railroad Co. v. Herbert, 116 U. S. 642, 646, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 590, but he asks that the question be re-examined in the light of the authorities. That was an action against a railroad company for the recovery of damages resulting from the negligence of its representative, whereby the plaintiff sustained serious personal injury. The verdict was for $25,000, and a new trial was ordered, unless the plaintiff remitted $15,000 of the verdict. He did remit that sum, and judgment was entered for $10,000. This court said: 'The exaction, as a condition of refusing a new trial, that the plaintiff should remit a portion of the amount awarded by the verdict, was a matter within the discretion of the court. It held that the amount found was excessive, but that no error had been committed on the trial. In requiring the remission of what was deemed excessive, it did nothing more than require the relinquishment of so much of the damages as, in its opinion, the jury had improperly awarded. The corrected verdict could therefore be properly allowed to stand;' citing Blunt v. Little, 3 Mason, 102, 106; Hayden v. Machine Co., 54 N. Y. 221, 225; and Doyle v. Dixon, 97 Mass. 208, 213. In Blunt v. Little, which was an action for malicious civil prosecution, in which the verdict was for $2,000, Mr. Justice STORY, while admitting that the exercise of the discretion of the court to disturb the verdict of the jury was full of delicacy and difficulty, recognized it to be a duty to interfere, when it clearly appeared that the jury had committed a gross error, or acted from improper motives, or had given damages that were excessive in relation either to the person or the injury, and held that the cause then before him should be submitted to another jury unless the plaintiff remitted $500 of the damages. The remission was made and the new trial refused. In Doyle v. Dixon, which was an action for breach of contract, the language of the court was: 'When the damages awarded by the jury appear to the judge to be excessive, he may either grant a new trial absolutely, or give the plaintiff the option to remit the excess, or a portion thereof, and order the verdict to stand for the residue.' To the same effect are many other cases. Guerry v. Kerton, 2 Rich. Law, 507, 512; Young v. Englehard, 1 How. (Miss.) 19; Diblin v. Murphy, 3 Sandf. 20. See, also, numerous authorities collected in Sedg. Dam. (6th Ed.) 765, note 3; 1 Suth. Dam. 812, note 2; 3 Grah. & W. New Trials, 1162.

The practice which this court approved in Railroad Co. v. Herbert is sustained by sound reason, and does not, in any just sense, impair the constitutional right of trial by jury. It cannot be disputed that the court is within the limits of its authority when it sets aside the verdict of the jury, and grants a new trial, where the damages are palpably or outrageously excessive. Ducker v. Wood, 1 Term R. 277; Hewlett v. Cruchley, 5 Taunt. 277, 281; authorities cited in Sedg. Dam. (6th Ed.) 762, note 2. But, in considering whether a new trial should be granted upon that ground, the court necessarily determines, in its own mind, whether a verdict for a given amount would be liable to the objection that it was excessive. The authority of the court to determine whether the damages are excessive implies authority to determine when they are not of that character. To indicate, before passing upon the motion for a new trial, its opinion that the damages are excessive, and to require a plaintiff to submit to a new trial, unless, by remitting a part of the verdict, he removes that objection, certainly does not deprive the defendant of any right, or give him any cause for complaint. Notwithstanding such...