Yurkonis v. Delaware, L. & W.R. Co.

Citation213 F. 537
PartiesYURKONIS v. DELAWARE, L. & W.R. CO.
Decision Date27 April 1914
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

Baltrus S. Yankaus, of New York City (Thomas J. O'Neill, of New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff.

F. W Thomson and W. S. Jenney, both of New York City, for defendant.

CHATFIELD District Judge.

The trial court has the right to set aside a verdict where passion or prejudice has plainly influenced the jury, or where feeling of some nature has improperly entered into the verdict. This power is plainly based upon the proposition that a verdict which is not according to the testimony, and therefore erroneous as a matter of law, in that it is not based upon the record, should be set aside by the trial court. The Circuit Court of Appeals has no power to reduce or increase a verdict. Southern Railway v. Hattie E Bennett, Administratrix, 233 U.S. 80, 34 Sup.Ct. 566, 58 L.Ed. . . . (United States Supreme Court, April 6, 1914). Nor is a motion granting or denying a new trial reviewable, inasmuch as it is within the discretion of the trial court. Addington v U.S., 165 U.S. 184, 17 Sup.Ct. 288, 41 L.Ed. 679; Copper River & N.W. Ry. Co. v. Reeder, 211 F. 280, 127 C.C.A. 648.

It has been frequently held that the amount of the verdict, being an estimate from the testimony of the money value of the loss sustained, is not within the control of the trial court, if the court's opinion happens to differ from the result reached by the jury. Southern Railway v. Bennett, supra; Occidental Consolidated Min. Co. v. Comstock Tunnel Co. (C.C.) 125 F. 244. This proposition is undoubtedly sound and wise. If the question of fact is left to the jury, the only consideration the trial court may give to the jury's action is to determine whether or not the verdict is contrary to the evidence, or to the weight of the evidence, or is invalid in some respect as a matter of law.

Yet in the case of Southern Railway v. Bennett, supra, the Supreme Court has taken as a matter of course the reduction of a verdict from $25,000 to $20,000, where the court ordered that the verdict be set aside and a new trial granted to the defendant, unless the plaintiff allowed judgment to be entered for the smaller amount. In cases where passion or feeling has affected the result, or where the testimony proves a certain limit as a maximum for the verdict, then it would seem to be a matter of law that the balance of the verdict was not sustained by testimony. A determination that a new trial would have to be granted, unless the verdict were entered at the greatest amount which the testimony would support, is but another way of exercising the discretion which ...

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    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • May 4, 1931
    ...171 S.W. 115; R. R. Co. v. Harris, 172 S.W. 1129; Birch v. R. R. Co., Ann. Cas. 1912-B, p. 1166; New v. Stout, 227 P. 519; Yukonis v. R. R. Co., 213 F. 537; v. R. R. Co., 5 N.C. C. A. 766; Ala. Power Co. v. Goodwin, 106 So. 239; White v. Thornington, 120 So. 914; Mears v. Dixie Creameries, ......
  • Morris v. E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • May 7, 1940
    ... ... 562, 98 S.W.2d 616; ... Aly v. Terminal Assn., 119 S.W.2d 363 (Mo.); Yurkonis v ... Delaware, L. & W. Railroad Co., 213 F. 537, 220 F. 429; ... Cashmore v. Peerless Motor Car ... ...
  • Rice v. Union Pacific R. Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska
    • January 19, 1949
    ...1030, No. 13,275; Darnell v. Krouse, C.C.Pa., 134 F. 509; Bierbach v. Goodyear Rubber Co., C.C. Wis., 15 F. 490; Yurkonis v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co., D.C.N.Y., 213 F. 537, affirmed without reference to the instant point, 2 Cir., 220 F. 429, and Review by Supreme Court denied; Palmer v. Mor......
  • Yazoo & M. V. R. Co. v. Daily
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • April 7, 1930
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