Case Name: TRACEY v. REID et al.
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1906-03-09
Citations: 97 N.Y.S. 1074
Docket Number: 
Parties: TRACEY v. REID et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 97
Pages: 1074–1078

Head Matter:
TRACEY v. REID et al.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.
March 9, 1906.)
1. Trial—Evidence—Objections.
Where a direction to a witness to repeat a conversation with another is objected to, the entire conversation as related in answer to questions is subject to the objection.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 46, Cent. Dig. Trial, §§ 211-222.]
2. Appeal—Harmless Error—Admission op Evidence.
In an action for an assault, where the evidence as to its commission was conflicting, it was prejudicial error to admit a conversation in which the witness, not a witness to the assault, related the occurrence as shown by plaintiff’s evidence.
3. Same—Objections to Evidence—Motion to Strike Out.
A party is not required to move to strike out testimony erroneously admitted over objection.
Gaynor and Rich, JJ., dissenting.
Appeal from Trial Term, Kings County. _
_ Action by Jane Tracey against Daniel Reid and another. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff and from an order denying a new trial, defendant Reid appeals.
Reversed.
■ Argued before HIRSCHBERG, P. J., and WOODWARD, GAY-NOR, RICH, and MILLER, JJ.
Herbert B. Brush and George W. McKenzie, for appellant.
Thomas F. Magner, for respondent.

Opinion:
MILLER, J.
The plaintiff has recovered a judgment for personal injuries alleged to have been inflicted upon her in the commission of an assault by one of the appellant's servants. The action was brought against the appellant and one Lyman G. Bloomingdale, and it appeared that the appellant, a piano mover, was employed by the defendant Bloomingdale to move a piano from the premises where the plaintiff lived, and that he sent two of his employés to the place for the purpose, and the plaintiff claims that, while there, one of them assaulted her. She is corroborated as to the assault by a little, girl. The two men flatly contradicted her. The learned trial court dismissed the complaint as to the defendant Bloomingdale, and sent the case to the jury as to the appellant upon two questions of fact, viz., whether the assault was committed, and whether the men were acting within the scope of their authority. Our attention is called to an exception which is fatal to the recovery. The plaintiff's daughter, who was not a witness to the transaction, testified that the day following the alleged assault she went to the store of the defendant Bloomingdale and there had a conversation with one of his salesmen. I now quote from the record:
"Q. Tell us all that you said to him and all that he said to you? (Objected to as incompetent, no proper foundation having been laid, and as not binding on either of the defendants. Objection overruled. Exception by defendants.) A. Why, this salesman that we bought the piano from took me into the office. I told him just what happened down there, how they abused my mother. Q. Tell what you said. A. I went in to him and I started and I said: 'Do you send men, when you sell a piano and when people fall in arrears with two or three payments—does a firm like Bloomingdale's send two burly men to lick and abuse a woman and take the piano away from her, when she had sent a payment the previous week?' He says: 'No; we do not.' He says: 'We have no men in our employ, and if we had we would not keep them that would do such a thing.' Q. I ask you about the conversation that took place between you and this superintendent up in Bloomingdale's store. A. That is all there was. Q. Is that all that you remember of the conversation? A. That is all. Q. Let me see if I can refresh your memory. Did you tell him anything about what happened the day before at your house? (Objected to; objection overruled; exception taken.) A. I did. Q. What did you tell him about what happened at your house the day before? A. I told him they struck my mother in the knee with the door, and they struck her in the chest and knocked her over a chair."
This testimony must all be regarded as in subject to the specific objection that it was not binding on either defendant. Sherman v. D. L. & W. R. R. Co., 106 N. Y. 542, 13 N. E. 616. The assertion that the .evidence was admitted against one defendant only is directly opposed to the record, and there is not a suggestion in the record of the the theory upon which it was received. We may speculate on,what was in the learned trial judge's mind, but such speculation cannot supply an adequate reason for admitting evidence which was the rankest hearsay as to both defendants. The appellant was not required to move to strike out such evidence admitted over his objection, and the only question here is, has the respondent borne- the burden of satisfying us that this manifest error was harmless? Gearty v. Mayor, etc., of New York, 183 N. Y. 233, 76 N. E. 12. The objectionable testimony was received under a ruling of the court which in effect instructed the jury that it was proper evidence for them to consider in determining the issues. The plaintiff had to establish her case by preponderating proof. The testimony of herself and the little girl, balanced against the testimony of the two men, may have left the jury in doubt. How are we to say that the fact that the plaintiff's daugher immediately after the occurrence went to the people supposed to have been responsible and there made a complaint and related the occurrence exactly as the plaintiff testified to it did not have the effect of turning the scales in the plaintiff's favor? That this evidence might have prejudiced the defendant is so manifest that I should not discuss it were it not for the assertion that we, looking into- this record, would not be influenced by it; therefore the jury, who must be credited with like common sense, could not have been. If this is to be the rule for determining whether a mistake in admitting evidence is reversible error, it were better to abolish all rules of evidence. When we ourselves know that it is impossible accurately to gauge the effect of our own conceits and of irrelevant facts upon our own judgment, the absurdity of testing the effect of a given fact upon another mind by the effect which we think it would have upon our own becomes apparent. The test is not would the evidence have affected us; but might it have affected another. The plaintiff's counsel evidently thought that this testimony would help his case, and, not satisfied with one statement of the witness, had her repeat her narrative of the alleged assault in substance as the plaintiff, herself testified to it.
Counsel have not infrequently argued in this court that conceded error in the admission of testimony was harmless in cases in which it was apparent that such testimony was introduced for the sole purpose of improperly influencing the jury by counsel who knew that it was improper. Of course, common sense should govern juries, trial judges, and appellate courts, but when the trial judge makes such a manifest error in the admission of evidence, must we not disregard our common sense in order to say that the jury may not have made á like error in considering it? Applying the rule of common sense to this question, we all know very well that juries do sometimes give controlling effect to facts and circumstances not regarded by court or counsel as of any moment. The mental processes by which these 13 jurors reached a conclusion are not photographed in this record, and there are no data upon which to base a conclusion as to whether they considered the objectionable testimony. But as a legal proposition the reception of such testimony was error which may have harmed the appellant. Under our system of jurisprudence judicial investigations must be ¡conducted according to settled rules of evidence, arid if-these rules are violated appellate courts must reverse unless satis fied that the error was harmless. I have no quarrel with this system, but am persuaded that justice is better administered by adhering to settled rules than by brushing them aside upon the theory that our common sense tells us that they are of .no moment, and I therefore vote to reverse the judgment and order, and to grant a new trial, costs to abide the event.
HIRSCHBERG, P. J., and WOODWARD, J., concur..