George Granger v. Joseph Tremblay
| Citation | 28 A.2d 696,113 Vt. 32 |
| Parties | GEORGE GRANGER v. JOSEPH TREMBLAY |
| Decision Date | 04 November 1942 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Vermont |
October Term, 1942.
Negligence. Sufficiency of Evidence.
1. Where, in a negligence case, the allegations of negligence in a declaration are unsupported by any evidence, a verdict should be directed for the defendant.
ACTION OF TORT. Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Franklin Municipal Court, Shangraw, J.
Judgment reversed and judgment that the defendant recover his costs.
H J. Holden for the defendant.
John H. Webster for the plaintiff.
Present MOULTON, C. J., SHERBURNE, BUTTLES, STURTEVANT and JEFFORDS JJ.
This is a tort action in which the plaintiff had a verdict and judgment below and the case is here upon the defendant's exceptions. In his declaration the plaintiff alleges that at about twelve-thirty o'clock A.M. on August 7, 1941, he was driving his automobile in a careful and prudent manner on the so-called Gore Road in the town of Highgate. He was there "run into and upon" by a horse owned by the defendant, which horse the defendant had turned loose in the road and then and there knowingly, carelessly and negligently permitted it to run at large in said highway, whereby the plaintiff's automobile was greatly damaged. The declaration does not bring the case within the provisions of P. L. 8241 because it does not state that the defendant permitted the horse to run at large in the highway without the consent of the selectmen of the town of Highgate.
At the close of all the evidence the defendant moved that a verdict be directed in his favor upon the following grounds: (1) The evidence fails to show any negligence on the part of the defendant. (2) It appears from the evidence that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence.
Considered in the light most favorable to the plaintiff the jury could reasonably have found the following facts.
At about twelve-thirty o'clock A.M. on August 7, 1941, the plaintiff was driving his automobile in a northerly direction on the Gore Road in the town of Highgate. When near the defendant's residence he was travelling about forty miles per hour. There he saw a horse owned by the defendant loose and unattended on the travelled part of the highway. The lights on the plaintiff's car were on and complied with legal requirements but he did not see the horse until he was twenty-five or thirty feet from it. When first...
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