Stampofski v. Steffens
| Decision Date | 30 September 1875 |
| Citation | 79 Ill. 303,1875 WL 8621 |
| Parties | B. A. STAMPOFSKIv.A. H. STEFFENS. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. JOSEPH E. GARY, Judge, presiding.
Mr. JAMES FELCH, for the appellant.
This was an action of assumpsit, brought by appellee against appellant, to recover for labor performed in the manufacture of certain furniture.
A trial of the cause before a jury resulted in a verdict and judgment in appellee's favor for $153.08, which the appellant seeks to reverse upon two grounds: first, that the verdict is against the evidence; second, improper conduct on the part of one of the jurors during the progress of the trial of the cause.
The controversy between the parties grows out of the fact that they do not agree in regard to the contract under which the furniture was made.
The appellee testified that he was to be paid for his labor at the rate of three dollars per day, and that the furniture was to be made by hand?? and after the German fashion; while, on the other hand, appellant testified the furniture in question was to be made for sixty dollars, and appellee was to be paid in the rent of a house which he was at the time occupying, belonging to appellant, and nothing was said on the other two points.
The result of the case, therefore, depended to a great extent upon the veracity of the parties to the record.
If the evidence given by appellee was entitled to the greater degree of credit before the jury, the verdict would necessarily be in his favor; but if appellant was more credible, then no recovery could be had.
The credibility of witnesses is always a question for the jury. It was, therefore, for the jury to determine, from the appearance of the two witnesses upon the stand, their manner of testifying, etc., which one of the two they would believe. This they had done by their verdict, and where there is as clear and glaring a conflict in the evidence upon the main question in the case as is presented by this record, it is no part of the duty of an appellate court to disturb the finding of the circuit court.
The record, however, discloses several facts which, no doubt, had great weight with the jury in turning the scale in appellee's favor.
The appellee commenced to occupy a house belonging to appellant, January 9, 1873, at a rental of $8 or $10 per month, which he occupied until the following September. If the contract price of the furniture was, as claimed by appellant, to be but $60, it would be fully paid by the rent. It, however, appears by the evidence that from February to the 19th day of August, while the work on the furniture was in progress, appellant paid to appellee, in cash, various sums,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bryant v. Kansas City Railways Co.
...P. 904; 40 Cyc. 2213; Easley v. Ry. Co., 113 Mo. 246; Clack v. Subway Co., 138 Mo.App. 216; Ottoman v. Ry. Co., 32 Kan. 419; Stampofski v. Steffens, 79 Ill. 303; Bowle v. Washington, 62 Mo. 302; Harrington Railroad, 157 Mass. 579; Aldrich v. Wetmore, 52 Minn. 164; Woodbury v. Anoka, 52 Minn......
-
Evans v. Klusmeyer
...v. Worcester Railroad Co., 157 Mass. 579; Hempton v. State, 111 Wis. 127; Mattox v. United States, 146 U.S. 140, 36 L.Ed. 917; Stampofski v. Steffens, 79 Ill. 303; Winslow Morrill, 68 Me. 362; Helme v. Kingston, 8 Kulp, 221; State v. Perry, 121 N.C. 533; People v. Tyrell, 3 N. Y. Crim. Rep.......
-
McCoy v. Clegg
...from permitting all of the jurors to view the injuries together. Counsel for appellant cite in support of their contention Stampofski v. Steffens, 79 Ill. 303; Doud v. Guthrie, 13 Ill.App. 653, Consolidated Ice M. Co. v. Trenton Hygeian Ice Co., 57 F. 898. All these cases, however, pass upo......
-
Karaskiewicz v. Allstate Ins. Co.
...His silence, after he became aware of what he now terms improper conduct, must be regarded as a waiver of such impropriety. Stampfoski v. Steffens, 79 Ill. 303. Seaton v. Kendall, 61 Ill.App. 289, 293. Further, in considering the sufficiency of the quoted allegation, we are governed by a nu......