Case ID: ri-dec_3/html/0058-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "CAPOTOSTO, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Manuel Maderious vs. Morris Blackman
    No. 57770
    November 22, 1926
    For plaintiff: John R. Higgins.
    For defendant: McGovern and Slat-tery.
   CAPOTOSTO, J.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in ■the sum of $800 in an action for negligence. The defendant moves for a new trial upon the usual grounds.

In a collision between a Buick sedan driven by the plaintiff and the defendant’s truck on a winding road near the “Narrows,” so called, in the village of Saylesville on February 14, 1923, the plaintiff’s automobile was considerably damaged and Mrs. Madge Gill, a passenger in the plaintiff’s car, rather severely injured.

The facts presented a square conflict between the claims of the respective parties. The credibility of the witnesses would and undobutedly did determine the finding of the jury. There were no outstanding physical facts which might shed any independent reliable light upon the point In dispute. As the jury placed its stamp of approval on one or the other set of witnesses the liability would be determined. One fact which impressed the Court at the time of the trial with considerable force was the extraordinary coincidence of a number of the defendant’s friends, who as the defendant were engaged in the business of peddling fruit and vegetables, coming home by the same route that the defendant’s truck was taking, arriving at the scene of the accident at the same time, all seeing practically the same thing in the same way, and all using the same expressions in detailing the results of their observation.

The weight of the credible testimony supports the jury’s finding both as to the liability and damage.

Motion for new trial denied.