Court Opinion

ID: 9586452
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:11:17.326745+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:42.855834
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
concurring specially as to Division 1 of the opinion. Special ground 3 assigns error on the following excerpt from the charge of the court: “The defendant further contends that even if there was negligence on the part of the *508defendant creating some liability of the defendant, that there was some negligence on the part of the plaintiff that requires a reduction in the.amount of plaintiff’s damages.” The sole assignment of error is that the charge implied that the defendant admitted liability for some amount. There is no merit in this assignment of error because under no reasonable construction of the excerpt can it be said that it meant that the defendant admitted liability in some amount, which would mean an admission that the defendant was guilty of more than 50% of the negligence proximately causing the injuries. The charge of the court that the defendant further contends that even if there was negligence on the part of the defendant, etc.—can mean no more than that the defendant contended that there was enough evidence to authorize the jury to find that the defendant was guilty of more than 50% of the total negligence. Such an interpretation is a far cry from telling the jury that the defendant admitted negligence of more than 50% of the total. There was no assignment of error on the excerpt on the real and true meaning of the excerpt or on the error contained in the excerpt, plus the conflict in the charge as to the defendant’s actual contention and the erroneous contention stated in the excerpt. Since the assignment of error is restricted solely to an erroneous construction of the excerpt it is without merit. I concur in the judgment of affirmance.