Case Name: Alta James, Respondent, v. William E. Newell et al., Appellants
Court: Washington Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Washington
Decision Date: 1923-08-21
Citations: 126 Wash. 124
Docket Number: No. 17773
Parties: Alta James, Respondent, v. William E. Newell et al., Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: Washington Reports
Volume: 126
Pages: 124–124

Head Matter:
[No. 17773.
Department One.
August 21, 1923.]
Alta James, Respondent, v. William E. Newell et al., Appellants.
Appeal (412) — Review—Verdicts—When Set Aside. A verdict for damages for the burning of a house should be set aside as founded on prejudice, where it was greatly in excess of the value and unsupported by any testimony establishing liability on the part of the defendants.
Appeal from a judgment of the superior court for Spokane county, Webster, J., entered September 6, 1922, upon the verdict of a jury rendered in favor of the plaintiff, in an action in tort.
Reversed.
O. G. Follevaag and Danson, Williams & Danson, for appellants.
Harry L. Cohn and Jno. L. Dirks, for respondent.
Reported in 217 Pac. 711.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
— The respondent in her complaint, filed three years after the event, charges the appellants with having' burnt her house. The statement of facts discloses nothing rising to the dignity of testimony tending to establish liability on the part of the appellants. The jury's verdict (for an amount greatly in excess of any reasonable valuation of the destroyed property) can only be accounted for on the basis of prejudice. The judgment should have been granted to the appellants, and it is now so ordered.