Wainwright v. Satterfield
| Decision Date | 06 October 1897 |
| Docket Number | 7455 |
| Citation | 72 N.W. 359,52 Neb. 403 |
| Parties | JOHN A. WAINWRIGHT v. WILLIAM T. SATTERFIELD, EXECUTOR |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
ERROR from the district court of Sharpy county. Tried below before KEYSOR, J. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
George A. Magney and James Hassett, for plaintiff in error.
Martin Langdon, contra.
In the district court of Sarpy county, Satterfield, executor, sued Wainwright to recover a sum of money which the executor claimed Wainwright borrowed of his testatrix and which remained unpaid. The executor sued to recover the sum of $ 1,150, with seven per cent interest thereon from October 1 1889. In addition to a general denial of the allegations of the petition of the executrix, Wainwright pleaded that he had borrowed of the testatrix $ 700, and no more, and that he had repaid that sum to the testatrix. The executor had a verdict and judgment, to reverse which Wainwright prosecutes here a petition in error.
1. The only assignment of error which we think deserves serious attention in this opinion is that the damages awarded the executor by the jury are "excessive, appearing to have been given under the influence of passion or prejudice," and for this reason the court below should have awarded the plaintiff a new trial. As already stated, the executor claimed in his petition $ 1,150, with seven per cent interest from October 1, 1889. The jury found that there was due to the executor the sum of $ 1,155, with seven per cent interest from October 1, 1889. In other words, the jury awarded the plaintiff below $ 5 more than he claimed in his petition, and the plaintiff in error insists that this action of the jury shows that it was influenced by passion or prejudice. There is nothing in this record which tends to show that the finding of the jury is the result of passion or prejudice, unless we shall infer prejudice on the part of the jury from the simple fact that the verdict was $ 5 more than that claimed by the plaintiff. However, after an examination of this record we conclude that the amount of the verdict was not the result of passion or prejudice on the part of the jury, but resulted from a mistake or oversight. The witnesses for the executor testified that the amount which Wainwright had borrowed or owed the testatrix was $ 1,155, and the jury placed this sum in its verdict instead of the sum prayed for in the petition.
We do not think the facts in this case justify an inference of passion or prejudice on the part of the jury. When the attention of the district court was challenged to this excessive finding by Wainwright's motion for a new trial it permitted the executor to remit the excess of $ 5 and interest, and thereupon overruled the motion for new trial and rendered a judgment for $ 1,150 and interest from...
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