Court Opinion

ID: 9834392
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 23:33:15.519503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:14.537974
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
[8-10] In reaching the conclusion that the jury had a right to choose between inferences to be drawn from the testimony, we were not unmindful of the rule invoked by appellant in its motion, which denies to a jury such a right where the inference of negligence as charged is not more reasonable than that of the absence of such negligence. But we thought the rule ought not to be applied because it then appeared to us that, if the injury suffered by appellee was not due to negligence in the respect submitted in the court’s charge, it was due to negligence on the part of appellant in another respect, and it seemed to us it would be unreasonable under such circumstances to set aside the verdict and judgment. On further consideration of the matter, however, we are convinced we had no right to say as a matter of law that, if appellant was not guilty of negligence in failing to use due care to inspect the car and discover and repair the defect in the fastenings for the doors thereof, it was guilty of negligence in failing to use due care to close and fasten the doors thereof before it directed that the car be placed in the train at Myrtis. Therefore we now think the rule referred to should have been given effect in disposing of the appeal. It follows that we"think the motion should be granted; and, because the testimony was not sufficient to support the finding of the jury that negligence of appellant in the particular submitted to them was the proximate cause of the injury to appellee, that the judgment should be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial. It will, accordingly, be so ordered.