Locke v. City of Independence

Citation91 S.W. 61,192 Mo. 570
PartiesLOCKE v. CITY OF INDEPENDENCE.
Decision Date22 November 1905
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jackson County; W. B. Teasdale, Judge.

Action by Bettie Locke against the city of Independence. From a judgment for plaintiff for nominal damages only, she appeals. Affirmed.

N. F. Heitman and I. J. Ringolsky, for appellant. Llewellyn Jones and Flournoy & Flournoy, for respondent.

BRACE, P. J.

This is an action for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff from a fall upon a defective sidewalk in said city, in which the verdict and judgment was for the plaintiff, and her damages assessed at one cent. The errors assigned for reversal are, in substance: (1) The exclusion of some evidence as to the condition of the sidewalk; (2) the exclusion of some evidence of declarations of plaintiff, after suit brought, as to her then suffering pain; (3) that on the evidence, the verdict is the result of bias, prejudice, or passion, and the court erred in not granting a new trial for that reason.

1. As to the first assignment of error, it is only necessary to say that, as the verdict was for the plaintiff on the issue of a defective sidewalk, she suffered no injury from any alleged error in this respect, and, as to the second, that, if there was any error in excluding any complaint of pain by the plaintiff, it was amply cured by a mass of such evidence subsequently admitted. Roe v. Bank of Versailles, 167 Mo. 406, 67 S. W. 303; State v. Brennan, 164 Mo. 487, 65 S. W. 487; Hollmann v. Lange, 143 Mo. 100, 44 S. W. 752; Reardon v. Railway, 114 Mo. 385, 21 S. W. 731.

2. The only real contention in the case arises under the third assignment, and is that the verdict ought to be set aside, and the judgment reversed, because the plaintiff suffered serious injuries from her fall on the sidewalk and she was only awarded nominal damages. If the plaintiff suffered serious injuries from her fall, then she ought to have substantial damages for such injuries. But who is to determine that fact? Unquestionably the jury before whom the case was tried on the evidence produced before it. Nevertheless, the whole of that evidence, covering more than 500 pages of printed matter in a volume almost as large as one of the Missouri Reports, is brought here, and long and able arguments, both oral and written, have been made upon it to convince us that Mrs. Locke received serious injuries from her fall, and hence the verdict of the jury for nominal damages was the result of passion...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT