Case Name: John B. Lewis, plaintiff in error, vs. James M. Armstrong, administrator, et al., defendants in error
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1876-07
Citations: 57 Ga. 127
Docket Number: 
Parties: John B. Lewis, plaintiff in error, vs. James M. Armstrong, administrator, et al., defendants in error.
Judges: 
Reporter: Georgia Reports
Volume: 57
Pages: 127–128

Head Matter:
John B. Lewis, plaintiff in error, vs. James M. Armstrong, administrator, et al., defendants in error.
The general countenance of a case, takén as a whole, may justify the grant of a new trial, though no one feature be especially defective or distorted. The discretion of the presiding judge in granting a first new trial is very ample.
New trial. Before Judge Clark. iCumter Superior Court.. October Adjourned Term, 1875.
Report unnecessary.
W. A. Hawkins; S. Hall, for plaintiff in error.
D. A. Vason; Joseph Armstrong; N. A. Smith, for defendants.

Opinion:
Bleckley, Judge.
The motion for new trial embraced several grounds — error in the charge, error in refusing to charge, conflict of the verdict with the evidence and with the charge of the court, providential absence of one of the attorneys of the plaintiff in error from the trial on account of sickness, he being both leading counsel and a material witness. The court granted the motion generally, discerning in the case as a whole, no doubt, good reason for ordering a new trial. We are well satisfied with this result, and do not care to scrutinize, separately, the several grounds of the motion. If we were clear that no one of them, taken alone, should be held sufficient, we would not interfere, for the general presentation of all of them together is decisive. There should be no hesitation in conceding to the presiding judge very ample discretion in granting a first new trial.
Judgment affirmed.