Court Opinion

ID: 9857866
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:04:15.403267+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:47:05.589196
License: Public Domain

UHLENHOPP, Justice
(dissenting).
I concur in the court’s opinion except for the portiqn relating to instruction 5 and the result.
In instruction 5 the trial court defined “preponderance of the evidence,” but neither in that instruction nor elsewhere did the court expressly tell the jury who had the burden of proof with respect to the issues. The Telephone Company expressly excepted on that ground.
The burden of proof is an important matter in a case; it has been called vital. Hardee v. York, 262 N.C. 237, 136 S.E.2d 582. A trial court should expressly tell the jury which party has the burden of proof, especially when the matter is called to the court’s attention by exception. See rule 196, Rules of Civil Procedure.
This is not a case in which the court adequately covered the matter in its own language. Such a case is Waltham Piano Co. v. Lindholm Furniture Co., 168 Iowa 728, 741-742, 150 N.W. 1040, 1044-1045. There an agreement was asserted as an affirmative defense. The trial court instructed that the defendant averred the defense and “that if the defendant has proved to you by a preponderance of the evidence, that . an agreement was made . then, and in that case . . . the defendant would not be liable,” but “if the defendant has failed to prove to you by a preponderance of the evidence that there was such an agreement . . . then the defendant would be liable.” This court held that the burden of proof was adequately covered by the instruction. See also Engle v. Ungles, 223 Iowa 780, 273 N.W. 879. We have no such instruction here.
The Telephone Company’s exception should have been sustained, and the judgment should therefore be reversed.