Court Opinion

ID: 9722888
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:54:22.255775+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:00:14.760942
License: Public Domain

Broadfoot, J.
(dissenting). This case arose out of a very unusual accident and ended with a very peculiar verdict. The occupants of both vehicles were killed. There was one eyewitness who was driving his automobile in the same direction as the police car and the transport truck, who testified that he was about 1,000 feet away at the time of the accident. He testified that the truck was going approximately 55 miles per hour just prior to the collision. He was not impeached and his testimony was uncontradicted. This situation brings to mind a rule illustrated by the following quotations:
“The first point taken is that the execution of the note was not proved, and that the circuit judge erred in instructing the jury as follows: ‘You have heard the testimony of Mr. Frisby about the note, as to the genuineness of the signature. His testimony is uncontradicted, and unless there is something in the case which casts discredit on his testimony, you are bound to accept it as true.’ ...
“This instruction would seem to be a self-evident proposition. It is the same as telling the jury that they must find according to the uncontradicted evidence, unless such evi*264dence was discredited in some way. The instruction might have been made still stronger and it would have been strictly correct.” Engmann v. Estate of Immel, 59 Wis. 249, 251, 252, 18 N. W. 182.
“There is nothing in the case to discredit Poehl’s testimony or render it improbable. It is uncontradicted, not against established facts or reasonable probabilities, and in no way discredited. Therefore the jury were bound to accept the evidence of Poehl as true. Engmann v. Estate of Immel, 59 Wis. 249, 18 N. W. 182; Bourda v. Jones, 110 Wis. 52, 85 N. W. 671; Daniels v. Foster, 26 Wis. 686.” Quass v. Milwaukee G. L. Co. 168 Wis. 575, 578, 170 N. W. 942.
“This testimony, standing alone, was sufficient to locate the quarter post at the point A, and if the jury was bound to believe it they were unwarranted in finding that the true quarter corner was at point Y. They could not disregard it or disbelieve it unless the record contained evidence impeaching it.” Fehrman v. Bissell Lumber Co. 188 Wis. 82, 86, 204 N. W. 582, 205 N. W. 905.
“There is not a word in the evidence that disputes either directly or by inference the testimony of Laufenberg and the president of the Co-operative Company as to the actual situation. Under that testimony Laufenberg was an independent contractor, not an employee of the Co-operative Company, and Lund was his employee, not an employee of the Cooperative Company. Respondent contends that the jury were not bound to believe these witnesses. We consider that they were. Their testimony was not inherently incredible, it was not impeached in any particular directly or by any circumstances. See Zurn v. Whatley, 213 Wis. 365, 370, 251 N. W. 435.” Schulz v. General Casualty Co. 233 Wis. 118, 129, 288 N. W. 803.
In the face of this uncontradicted testimony the jury found the truck driver was not negligent as to speed, although the speed limit for a truck of that size was 45 miles per hour. In addition the jury found Curtis Starry causally negligenf *265with respect to suddenly stopping or suddenly decreasing his speed in the path of the following vehicle without giving a proper signal of his intention to suddenly stop or suddenly decrease his speed. There is not a scintilla of evidence in the record to sustain these findings. From the record it is difficult to see how the jury arrived at its conclusions. The result is so peculiar that this would seem to be a case where this court should exercise its discretionary power and grant a new trial. The majority is correct in reversing the trial court’s order for a new trial because it did not state sufficient reasons therefor. However, its determination that there should be a new trial is an additional ground why this court should exercise its discretionary power.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Chief Justice Fairchild and Mr. Justice Currie concur in this dissent.