Case Name: ROYNAN v. PATTERSON ET AL.
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Tennessee
Decision Date: 1886-04
Citations: 3 Shan. Cas. 263
Docket Number: 
Parties: ROYNAN v. PATTERSON ET AL.
Judges: 
Reporter: Tennessee Cases with Notes and Annotations
Volume: 3
Pages: 263–264

Head Matter:
ROYNAN v. PATTERSON ET AL.
Jackson,
April Term, 1886.
DAMAGES. Verdict not sustained by evidence. Judgment reversed and new trial-' awarded.
In an action to recover damages for injuries- done to the crops of the plaintiffs by the cattle of- the defendants, wherein all the' testimony found in the record in relation to the injury sustained by the plaintiffs, was that of one of the plaintiff’s who “testified that they rented fourteen acres of land adjoining the defendants; that defendants’ cattle broke over the fence: that they damaged his crop of corn fifty per cent., and be would have raised fifty bushels per acre; that they damaged his peas and millet at least fifty per cent., and these were worth thirty dollars per acre; that the next fall they got in and utterly destroyed his oats crop, which would have been worth thirty dollars per acre,” the testimony is too vague and uncertain to predicate a verdict upon as to 'the amount of damages sustained, and there is no sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict fixing the damag-e at three hundred dollars,. and the judgment must be reversed, and a new trial awarded.
Appeal from circuit court, Slielby county.
C. W. lleiskell, for plaintiff; L. W. ITumes, for defendants.

Opinion:
Cooke, J.,
delivered tbe opinion of the court:
This suit was brought to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been done to the crops of the plaintiff below by the defendants' cattle. The only question necessary to be noticed, in the view we have taken of the case, is as to the amount of the damages assessed by the jury, which was fixed at $300. The referees have, reported that there is no sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict fixing this amount, and we concur in this opinion. W. W. Galloway, one of the plaintiffs, testified that they rented fourteen acres of land adjoining the defendants; that defendants' cattle broke over the fence; that they damaged his crop of corn fifty per cent., and he would have raised fifty bushels per acre; that they damaged his peas and millet at least 50 per cent., and these were worth $30 per acre; that the next fall they got in and utterly destroyed his oats crop, which would have been worth $30 per acre. This is all the testimony found in the record in relation to the injury sustained by the plaintiffs. It is nowhere stated or shown how much of said land was in cultivation, or what portion of it was in corn or peas, or millet or oats; nor is there any estimate of the amount of the damages actually sustained, or any data fixed by which the same can be ascertained. We think the testimony is too vague and uncertain to predicate a verdict upon as to the amount of damages sustained.
There are other serious questions presented by the record, but as they are such as are not likely to arise upon another trial, they are not further noticed.
The report of the referees must be confirmed, the judgment reversed, and the cause remanded for new trial.