Richards v. Rizzi
| Decision Date | 31 December 1954 |
| Citation | 99 N.H. 327,110 A.2d 275 |
| Parties | Jeannette I. RICHARDS v. Joseph A. RIZZI. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Leonard & Leonard, Nashua, Francis W. Johnston, Concord, and Richard W. Leonard, Nashua, for plaintiff.
Paul E. Nourie and Bartram C. Branch, Manchester, for defendant.
The first question we shall consider is whether the Court erred in denying the defendant's motions for a nonsuit and directed verdict on the ground that there was no evidence of any damages. Liability having been admitted, the plaintiff, who was pregnant at the time of the accident, testified that upon the collision, 'I was thrown back against the steering wheel' and She also testified that she worried a great deal about a possible miscarriage, that she had to remain in bed for a week and was unable to return to full-time work for some three years after her injury because when she tried to work her back pained her so she had to stop. There was corroborative evidence from her employer as to her numerous complaints about her back aching and the date when she returned to a full-time job. It is unnecessary to further detail the evidence on this score; it was ample to support a verdict. The fact no medical testimony was offered is not fatal for the jury were entitled to believe her story as to her injury and ensuing suffering and incapacity and to draw 'such inferences as are justified by the common experiences and observations of mankind.' Dunham v. Stone, 96 N.H. 138, 140, 71 A.2d 412, 414.
There was also testimony that she had long been the mainstay of her employer on his chicken farm, having been employed by him for some ten years prior to the accident, that before her injury she tossed about bags of grain, handled heavy chicken crates, was a 'very hard' worker and a 'very good employee.' It was findable she was steadily employed at the time she was hurt, earning $35 to $40 a week and sometimes more. Had she not been incapacitated, the jury could fairly infer from the evidence that she would have continued to earn approximately the same amount. Hill v. Bardis Fruit Company, 96 N.H. 14, 17, 69 A.2d 1; Dowling v. L. H. Shattuck, Inc., 91 N.H. 234, 241-242, 17 A.2d 529. For four months after her injury she earned nothing, and thereafter and until she returned to full-time employment three years after the accident, her earnings dropped sharply, averaging some $33 per month in 1950 and 1951, and $42 per month in 1952. True, there was conflicting evidence and the books which her employer produced to show payments for labor, including those to the plaintiff, were not such as would have...
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