Kelly v. Chi., R. I. & P. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 16 January 1908 |
| Citation | 138 Iowa 273,114 N.W. 536 |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
| Parties | KELLY v. CHICAGO, R. I. & P. RY. CO. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Linn County; Wm. G. Thompson, Judge.
Action at law to recover damages for the death of the plaintiff's intestate. Verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.Carroll Wright, J. L. Parrish, and Grimm, Trewin & Moffit, for appellant.
Barnes & Chamberlain and Jamison & Smith, for appellee.
John W. Kelly, a brakeman in the employ of the defendant company, was killed while in the line of his duty in such service by the explosion of a locomotive boiler. He left no will and no children, and his estate descended in equal shares to his wife and mother. The widow, having been appointed administratrix of his estate, brings this action, alleging that her husband's death was chargeable to the negligence of the defendant, and demanding a recovery of damages in the sum of $10,000. She further alleges that within a very short time after her husband's death, and while she was still suffering great mental and nervous depression and weakness by reason of her sudden and great affliction, and in consequent unfit condition to transact business, she was approached by defendant's claim agent, one Albright, who represented that he would pay her $3,000 in settlement of her own claim for the death of her husband, and, in addition thereto, would settle with the mother of the deceased, leaving the plaintiff to have and hold as her own said sum of $3,000, and that she, believing and relying upon said representations and promises, accepted the offer. She further says that, upon expressing her willingness to settle upon the terms proposed, the claim agent, taking advantage of her weakness and unfitness for business, presented a receipt or voucher, which she signed, believing it to be a receipt in accordance with the proposed terms of settlement, but, as she now learns, it purports to be a receipt in full by her as administratrix of her husband's estate, and that defendant and its agents have neglected and failed to settle with the mother of the deceased, or to pay her anything upon her claim for the death of her son. She therefore avers that said settlement and receipt were obtained by fraud, and are of no validity. The defendant admits the death of the said John W. Kelly by accident while in its service, and alleges full settlement on account thereof with plaintiff as administratrix of his estate, the approval of such settlement by the district court where the administration was pending, and the acceptance by plaintiff of the sum of $3,000 in full of all claims on account of the death of the intestate. It denies being in any manner negligent with respect to said accident, and denies all allegations of fraud and imposition in the procurement of the alleged settlement. The jury having returned a verdict in plaintiff's favor for $3,000, judgment was entered thereon, and defendant appeals.
1. As already stated, the defendant in its answer sets up the alleged written stipulation of settlement with the plaintiff and her receipt of $3,000 in discharge of all claims against the defendant. On the trial, plaintiff having given testimony on her own behalf tending to show that the settlement and receipt were obtained by fraud and deception, defendant's counsel in cross-examination called her attention to the voucher or receipt which she had signed, to the order of the court approving the settlement, and to a report to the court purporting to have been filed by her containing matter apparently recognizing the validity of said settlement. Thereafter the plaintiff introduced in evidence over the defendant's objection the record of an order by the district court disapproving said report, and approving a substituted report, in which she alleged that said former report and the application for approval of the alleged settlement had been made by the agents and attorneys for the railway company, who procured her signature thereto without her understanding the true nature and effect thereof. Error is assignedupon the admission of these papers and records in evidence. The objection is grounded upon the general rule, which excludes self-serving declarations of a party, and that records of judicial proceedings are not admissible as against one who was not a party thereto. The soundness of these general propositions cannot be disputed, but their applicability to the present case is not apparent. The defendant having pleaded and put in evidence the alleged settlement and its approval by the court, together with so much of the probate record as had any tendency to support its defense, we think that, upon very familiar principles, it was the right of the plaintiff to offer the remainder of the same record. Moreover, defendant was claiming that the approval of the settlement had the effect of a prior adjudication of rights involved in this action, and in our judgment the entire record affecting the claim in suit was material evidence for the consideration of the jury.
2. Upon the measure of plaintiff's damages, if found entitled to recover, the trial court charged the jury substantially in the language approved by this court in Lowe v. Railroad Co., 89 Iowa, 433, 56 N. W. 519. Counsel for appellant concede the correctness of the instructions; but assign error on the court's refusal of the request for an additional instruction framed in part after the manner approved in Spaulding v. Railroad Co., 98 Iowa, 219, 67 N. W. 227, to the effect that in estimating the damages to the decedent's estate the jury should allow nothing for his pain and suffering or by way of exemplary damages, but should take into consideration his age at the time of his death, his ability, if any, to earn money, his expenditures, his accumulation of property and other circumstances affording any aid in establishing the present value of his life to his estate. The instruction asked could properly have been given, but we are not prepared to hold that its refusal under the circumstances of the case constitutes prejudicial error. The court did very fairly and fully give to the jury the general rule that the loss or damage which plaintiff was entitled to recover, if the issues were found in her favor, was the loss or damage occasioned to the estate of the decedent by his premature death, taking into consideration his age, health, occupation, earnings, his ability to earn, and other matters in evidence tending to show the extent of such loss, and that, in arriving at such result, consideration should be given to the fact that the sum allowed was to be paid at once, and not at the end of the deceased's expectancy of life. The requested instruction added essentially nothing to this rule, except to direct the attention of the jury to certain features of the evidence bearing upon the question of damages. It is not often practicable, and still less often advisable, for the trial court in framing its instructions to make specific mention of the items of evidence bearing upon any given issue. The office of an instruction is to state the rule of law applicable and pertinent to the matter to be determined, and not to marshal the evidence, or by special mention to give undue prominence to any particular phase or feature of the fact case-made by either party to the controversy. Nor can the court be expected to give express or special warning against every possible mistake or misapprehension into which the jury may fall in the discharge of its functions. Something must be left to the intelligent apprehension and application by the jurors themselves of the general rules stated in the court's instructions. It may, and does occasionally, happen that some unfairness in argument of counsel or some other circumstance out of the ordinary arising in the course of the trial suggests to the court the propriety of guarding against prejudice therefrom to either party by an instruction covering the specific matter thus imported into the case. When and to what extent instruction of this nature shall be given rests very largely in the sound and impartial discretion of the court. The charge given in the present case announces the correct rule in terms which in essence and effect cover the thought of the requested instruction in all its essential features; and we see nothing in the record to indicate possible prejudice to appellant in the refusal of the more specific and detailed direction.
3. While not yielding to the other points mentioned, counsel for appellant very properly say that “the principal question in this case is whether the plaintiff and defendant had made a valid settlement of the case or action in controversy.” To that question we now turn our attention. There was evidence from which the jury could find the truth of the following state of facts: Within a very few days after the accident Albright, the railway company's claim agent, called on the widow for the purpose of procuring a settlement of the company's...
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