Alachua Lake Corporation v. Jacobs, (1942)
Court: Supreme Court of Florida
Number:
Visitors: 11
Judges: ADAMS, J.:
Attorneys: Adkins Arnow, C. Harold Hippler and W.H. Poe, for plaintiffs in error.
Baxter Clayton, for defendant in error.
Filed: Aug. 04, 1942
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Final judgment for plaintiff based on a jury verdict is before us for review. The action was in tort, involving a collision between plaintiff and defendant's motor vehicles. The case went to trial on declaration, pleas of not guilty, contributory negligence and other special pleas. The only question submitted to us by appellants which contains merit relates to the following charge given to the jury: "The measure, or rule, of evidence, in cases of this kind, is a preponderance of the evidence. In
Summary: Final judgment for plaintiff based on a jury verdict is before us for review. The action was in tort, involving a collision between plaintiff and defendant's motor vehicles. The case went to trial on declaration, pleas of not guilty, contributory negligence and other special pleas. The only question submitted to us by appellants which contains merit relates to the following charge given to the jury: "The measure, or rule, of evidence, in cases of this kind, is a preponderance of the evidence. In ..
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I agree to what is written in the above opinion with reference to the error of the court in its charge that when the plaintiff proved its case by a preponderance of the evidence it then became the duty of the defendants to establish their reasonable care also by a preponderance of the evidence. That this instruction may well have been harmful to the defendants is evidenced by the action of the jury in returning to the courtroom before their ultimate verdict and requesting further charges and announcing to the court that "We, the Jury, find that both plaintiff and defendant are at fault and that either could have avoided the accident."
This indicated that the question whether the plaintiff should recover was a very close one.
BROWN, C. J., BUFORD and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
Source: CourtListener
