Sprecher v. Ensminger
| Decision Date | 20 October 1914 |
| Docket Number | No. 29293.,29293. |
| Citation | 167 Iowa 118,149 N.W. 97 |
| Parties | SPRECHER v. ENSMINGER. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Marshall County; C. B. Bradshaw, Judge.
Action to recover damages claimed to have resulted from the negligence of the defendant in breeding his stallion to plaintiff's mare, in consequence of which she subsequently died. Judgment for the plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.Struble & Stiger, of Toledo, and Bradford & Johnson, of Marshalltown, for appellant.
Cummings & Mote, of Marshalltown, for appellee.
On or about June, 1911, the plaintiff bred his mare to defendant's stallion; that in the act of breeding the mare was injured, and from the injury received subsequently died. Plaintiff claims that the injuries and death were the direct and proximate result of the negligence of the defendant in handling the stallion at the time.
Defendant, answering plaintiff's petition, denies any negligence on his part, and further says that this defendant advertised to the public the terms on which mares would be bred during said season to said stallion, which said notice was posted and published in said Marshall county in public places therein, and on the front door of the stall at the feed barn of E. W. Harmon, in Marshalltown, Iowa, where said stallion was kept for breeding purposes, and that, prior to the breeding of said plaintiff's mare to said stallion, a copy of said notice was given to the plaintiff, and he well knew, prior to his bringing said mare to the said stallion for breeding purposes, the terms on which said mare would be bred to said stallion, and on which said stallion was being bred, which said notice in writing so posted and delivered to said plaintiff, was in the following words, namely:
“Terms for Sportsman or Frank Strath--$15.00 to insure mare with foal. Parties selling or removing mares from county forfeit insurance and service fee becomes due at once. Care will be taken to prevent accidents, but will not be responsible should any occur.
F. R. Ensminger, Gilman, Iowa.
W. H. Galbraith, Groom.”
And this defendant avers that said mare was brought to said stallion for breeding purposes after the posting and publishing of said notice and the delivering of a copy of the same to said plaintiff, as to the terms on which said mare would be bred to said stallion, and that, by reason thereof, this defendant is not liable for any accident that occurred while said mare was being bred to said stallion.
As a defense to said cause of action alleged in plaintiff's petition, defendant avers that said mare owned by said plaintiff and brought to said stallion, Frank Strath, for breeding purposes on the 19th day of June, 1911, was nervous, vicious, and hard to cover, and that at the time said mare was being covered or bred by said stallion, Frank Strath, she extended her rectum in answer to a call of nature, and while the said rectum was so extended the accident complained of, as stated in plaintiff's petition, occurred, which was unavoidable and without negligence on the part of this defendant, and the said accident was incidental to the breeding of said mare, unavoidable, and a risk that the plaintiff took in bringing said mare to said stallion to be bred.
The cause was tried to a court without a jury, and the court found in favor of the plaintiff, and entered judgment for the plaintiff for $100. From this judgment, defendant appeals.
The defendant in his argument says that he submits no brief to the court, as the sole question in this case is: Has the plaintiff, by a preponderance of the evidence, proven that the defendant was negligent in breeding his stallion to plaintiff's mare? There is no question, under this record, that in the act of breeding the mare was injured, and that from the...
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