Opinion ID: 272741
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The court erred in denying recovery on the res ipsa loquitur doctrine.

Text: 7 Plaintiff also raises the point that under the Iowa no eyewitness rule a presumption exists that decedent exercised ordinary care for his own safety and that a child under fourteen years of age is not chargeable with contributory negligence. We agree with the defendant that such points have no material bearing upon this appeal. The trial court, having determined that the defendant was not guilty of negligence, had no occasion to consider the contributory negligence issue. The issue on this appeal is whether the court committed error in determining defendant was guilty of no negligence. 8 Plaintiff's contention that a motor vehicle driver must assume that a child under fourteen may act without any care will be considered in our discussion of point I, supra. 9 Rule 52(a), of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, clearly provides that findings made by a court in a case tried without a jury shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Findings of fact can be set aside only upon a clear demonstration that they are without substantial evidentiary support or that they are induced by an erroneous view of the law. The clearly erroneous standard likewise applies to reasonable inferences to be drawn from stipulated or undisputed facts, and it is for the trial court rather than the appellate court to draw legitimate and permissible inferences. Baker v. United States, 8 Cir., 343 F.2d 222, 224; Cole v. Neaf, 8 Cir., 334 F.2d 326, 329.