Robinson v. Stahl

• Decision Date: 29 June 1907
• Citation: 74 N.H. 310,67 A. 577
• Parties: ROBINSON v. STAHL.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

67 A. 577

74 N.H. 310

ROBINSON

v. STAHL.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Coos.

June 29, 1907.

Transferred from Superior Court.

Trespass to the person by Louise F. Robinson against Simon Stahl. There was a verdict for plaintiff, and the case was transferred to the Supreme Court Exceptions overruled.

During a quarrel the defendant ejected the plaintiff from a house so roughly that she fell and injured her arm. Subject to the defendant's exception, testimony was admitted that before the plaintiff regained her feet she said the defendant pushed her down. Subject to exception, the plaintiff was permitted to show that a witness for the defendant had said he would testify for the side which paid him the most money.

Jesse F. Libby, for plaintiff. Sullivan & Daley, for defendant

YOUNG, J. Statements made in the course of a transaction, or so soon thereafter as to form a legitimate part of it, are admissible in favor of the party making them, in so far as they tend to explain it or the relation of the parties to it. Murray v. Railroad, 72 N. H. 32, 37, 54 Atl. 289, 61 L. R. A. 495, 101 Am. St. Rep. 660. Consequently it cannot be said as a matter of law that the court erred in admitting the plaintiff's statement as to the cause of her injury; for there was evidence from which it could be found that it was an incident of the assault. The defendant's contention that there was no such evidence is not sustained by the facts; for, although the case does not show just how much time elapsed between the assault and the making of the statement, it does show that it was only so much as was required by the witness to walk 40 or 50 feet, or 8 or 10 seconds.

The evidence as to what the defendant's witness had said about testifying...