Court Opinion

ID: 9713440
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:15:29.591218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:18.812507
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Chief Justice
(concurring specially).
I agree that the judgment notwithstanding the verdict should be reversed and that the order granting the new trial should be affirmed (although I believe that the order granting the new trial is also sustainable by reason of the trial court’s refusal to admit the morbidity reports and in refusing the medical testimony to the effect that carnivals are one of the principal sources of salmonella enteritus in the state).
I concur specially only on the issue of the applicability of the rule announced in Parham v. Dell Rapids Township in Minnehaha County, 80 S.D. 281, 122 N.W.2d 548 (1963). When read in the light of this court’s decision in Weidner v. Lineback, 82 S.D. 8, 140 N.W.2d 597 (1966), Parham is not really in conflict with the principles set forth in Jerke v. Delmont State Bank, 54 S.D. 446, 223 N.W. 585 (1929), and cases based thereon.
In Weidner, supra, the court stated, in rejecting defendants’ contention that the trial court should have granted their motion for directed verdict, “Nor can this court weigh the probabilities arising from the evi-dentiary facts to determine whether it is more probable the accident was proximately caused by plaintiff’s failure to gear the truck down or by inadequate brakes.” 82 S.D. at 16, 140 N.W.2d at 601. The court went on to say:
As the United States Supreme Court pointed out in Tennant v. Peoria & P. U. Ry. Co., 321 U.S. 29, 64 S.Ct. 409, 88 L.Ed. 520, “It is not the function of a court to search the record for conflicting circumstantial evidence in order to take the case away from the jury on a theory that the proof gives equal support to inconsistent and uncertain inferences. The focal point of judicial review is the reasonableness of the particular inference or conclusion drawn by the jury. It is the jury, not the court, which is the fact-finding body. It weighs the contradictory evidence and inferences, judges the credibility of witnesses, receives expert instructions, and draws the ultimate conclusion as to the facts. The very essence of its function is to select from among conflicting inferences and conclusions that which it considers most reasonable * * * That conclusion, whether it relates to negligence, causation or any other factual matter, cannot be ignored. Courts are not free to reweigh the evidence and set aside the jury verdict merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences or conclusions or because judges feel that other results are more reasonable.”
Id. at 16, 140 N.W.2d at 601. See also Watson v. Great Lakes Pipeline Company, 85 S.D. 310, 182 N.W.2d 314 (1970).
Read in the light of the Weidner and Watson cases, Parham is not inconsistent with Jerke v. Delmont State Bank, supra. Although it could be argued that the Par-ham opinion reached the wrong result on the facts, the principles of law that it espoused are not at odds with the long-standing rule regarding directed verdicts.