Jacksonville Traction Co. v. Greene
| Decision Date | 20 December 1933 |
| Citation | 151 So. 523,113 Fla. 316 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | JACKSONVILLE TRACTION CO. v. GREENE. |
Error to Circuit Court, Duval County; D. T. Gray, Judge.
Action by J. H. Greene against Jacksonville Traction Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error.
Affirmed.
Doggett, McCollum, Howell & Doggett, of Jacksonville, for plaintiff in error.
Evan Evans, of Jacksonville, for defendant in error.
Trial was had of a suit involving an alleged injury sustained by defendant in error as passenger on plaintiff in error's street car. The basis of the action was alleged negligence on the car operator's part in closing the street car gate and raising the step of the car while the passenger was in the act of alighting, thereby throwing plaintiff to the street and injuring him. The recovery was $2,500 damages which the traction company seeks to have reversed on writ of error.
The only testimony offered tending to show how the alleged injury occurred was that of the plaintiff himself and that of the motorman on the street car. The testimony of the two was in direct and irreconcilable conflict. However, there may be gleaned from the record a sufficient basis in the evidence as an entirety to present a jury question as to the credibility of plaintiff as opposed to that of the street car operator. The jury believed plaintiff, as it had the right to do under the circumstances shown by the record of what occurred at the trial. The trial judge who saw and heard both witnesses approved the verdict by denying a motion for a new trial. Under the circumstances an appellate court is not warranted in reversing the judgment solely on the facts, in the absence of some showing that the jury must have acted on considerations outside the evidence, in returning the verdict that it did.
The maxim of the law is 'Ponderantur testes, non numerantur,' witnesses are not to be counted, but their testimony is to be weighed. It is the general rule in civil cases that a claim or defense can be established by a single witness. 6 Jones on Evidence (2d Ed.) page 4885. As an incident of their province to determine facts the credibility of witnesses is peculiarly a matter for the jury. Hubbard v. Rankin, 71 Ill. 129.
The necessary meaning of the rule last stated is that the plaintiff's uncorroborated testimony alone, if reasonable on its face, and believed and accepted by...
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