Court Opinion

ID: 9585875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:04:37.81804+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:24:15.985500
License: Public Domain

Higgins, J.,
concurring:
The plaintiff, over obj ection, was permitted to testify in the manner described in the opinion as the “third occasion.” In substance, the plaintiff testified that on January 3, 1952, he saw Bonnie M. Gregory and plaintiff’s wife get into the Gregory car at a cabin several miles from Durham; that he chased them until near Durham the highway was blocked by a passing freight train; whereupon Gregory turned on a dirt road and continued until he hit a tree at the dead end of the road. Plaintiff, armed with a hatchet, went to the Gregory car, the doors to which were locked. Using the hatchet, the plaintiff broke both windows, hit Gregory in the face with the hatchet and chased him into a nearby creek. Plaintiff departed, leaving Gregory in the creek bathing his wounds and plaintiff’s wife on the bank of the stream. Gregory was deceased at the time of the trial. The defense was conducted by his personal representatives.
I think the defendant’s objections should have been sustained and the evidence excluded under G.S. 8-51 as constituting “a personal transaction between the plaintiff and the deceased.” The plaintiff is a party to the action; he testified as a witness in his own behalf and against the personal representative of the deceased. Bunn v. Todd, 107 N.C. 266, 11 S.E. 1043; Seals v. Seals, 165 N.C. 409, 81 S.E. 613; Bank v. Wysong, 177 N.C. 284, 98 S.E. 769; Peek v. Shook, 233 N.C. 259, 63 S.E. (2d) 542. Under the authority of the above cases the only ground upon which the evidence could have been competent is that it did not relate to a personal transaction between the plaintiff and the deceased. The chase from the cabin to the end of the road, the breaking out of both windows with a hatchet, and the assault made with the weapon, in my *332view, constituted a personal transaction. The defendant’s objections to the evidence were preserved by exceptions Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
Mrs. Hardison was called as a witness for the defendant. While she did not testify on direct examination about the occurrence on January 3, on cross-examination she did give rather full details in material substance the same as given over objection by the plaintiff. In view of her testimony, therefore, the admission of plaintiff’s testimony is not deemed of sufficient importance to justify another trial. I concur in the result.
JOHNSON and Bobbitt, JJ., join in this opinion.
Baenhill, C. J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.