Court Opinion

ID: 9538201
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:32:19.294067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:37.948700
License: Public Domain

SHINN, P. J.
I concur; but feel impelled to add a thought which comes to mind more often than it is expressed. I put it in the form of questions. Why do defense lawyers press for nonsuits when practically all the material facts ar.e in evidence, instead of submitting the case on the merits, and why do trial judges grant nonsuits in doubtful cases when they are convinced that a verdict in favor of the plaintiff would be against the weight of the evidence and that it would be their duty to grant a new trial? It should be clear from a study of the reported cases that the rule applicable to non-*205suits operates strongly in favor of plaintiffs and that it precludes reviewing courts from sustaining judgments of non-suit if the evidence would be legally sufficient to support a verdict or judgment for the plaintiff. However dubious a plaintiff’s case may appear to a reviewing court the functions of the jury must be respected and there can be no weighing of the facts beyond the inquiry whether the case of the plaintiff is entirely devoid of substantial support in the evidence. The frequency with which judgments of nonsuit are reversed should stand as a warning that too many of them are granted.