Opinion ID: 1686539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: on suggestion of diminution and motion for certiorari

Text: The verdict recited in the judgment is as follows: We, the jury, find for the plaintiff and assess her damages at $47,000.00. (Hn 1) Appellant now seeks to have made a part of the record on appeal an unsigned writing on a separate sheet of paper, purporting to be the verdict of the jury, and reading as follows: We, the jury, find for the plaintiff in the sum of $47,000.00. We render this verdict in view of the fact that we believe that there were defects in the brakes and steering gear of the Cadillac Mr. Jennings was driving. This purported verdict was never marked filed by the Clerk. Nowhere in the record does it appear that this purported verdict was the verdict of the jury on which the court below entered its judgment except that it is so stated in appellant's motion for a new trial, wherein appellant complains that such was the verdict and that the same was not responsive to the issue involved. However, no proof was introduced on the motion for a new trial and no record was made in the court below that such purported verdict was the verdict of the jury. The only record made in the court below as to the verdict of the jury is the recital in the judgment. As an appellate court, we are limited in our review to the record of the case as made in the court below and we are bound by such record. Any other course would be contrary to the proper functions of an appellate court. We can, therefore, only consider the verdict as recited in the judgment of the court below, since this is the only recorded verdict and is accordingly controlling and conclusive upon this court. These conclusions are supported by the prior decisions of this court. In the case of Burton v. Atkins, 199 Miss. 275, 24 So. (2d) 355, the court said: It is complained that the verdict is insufficient in form and in contents to support the judgment. The verdict of which appellant speaks is an unsigned writing found apparently on a separate sheet of paper, but the verdict on which the court acted is recited in the judgment itself and thus the verdict recited in the judgment is the recorded verdict, and the verdict when and as recorded on the minutes is the only one to which the appellate court can look, 64 C.J. p. 1103; and certainly so when, as here, there is nothing in the record to show that the jury did not amend their verdict and return it, before being released from the case, in the amended form recited in the judgment. 2 Thompson on Trials, Sec. 2635, p. 1920. Again in the case of Brown v. Sutton, 158 Miss. 73, 120 So. 820, the court said: The appellee suggests a diminution of the record and asks for certiorari to bring up the original verdict returned by the jury in the court below, and also to correct an instruction contained in the record alleged to be incorrect in that blank spaces had been filled in after giving of the same, and that the court adjourned before the discovery of such fact. As to the verdict of the jury, an inspection of the record shows that the judgment recites the verdict of the jury. This recital in the judgment is conclusive upon us as to what the verdict is, and we are bound by the record made in the court below upon that proposition. Should the record in that case contain two conflicting verdicts, the verdict recited in the judgment will be controlling and conclusive upon this court. It would serve no useful purpose to issue a certiorari to bring up the verdict written upon the back of the declaration as alleged, because, if it be the same, it is in the record already, and if it was different from that recited in the judgment, the judgment would control. It follows that appellant's motion for certiorari must be overruled.