Court Opinion

ID: 9573145
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:48:27.997168+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:37:34.666496
License: Public Domain

Lovnsrs, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent.
Instructions IB, 4 and 5, with objections- thereto, are a part of the record, made so by Code, 56-6-20. The in*360structions and objections thereto read as follows: “I object to Defendant’s Instruction IB on the ground it is purely an abstract statement of law and has no relation at all to the facts in the case. It is not tied up to the facts in this case, it doesn’t refer to any of the facts in this case. It is just an abstract statement of the law. THE COURT: Given. (Exception) DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTION NO. IB The Court further instructs you gentlemen that in this case negligence on the part of the defendant must be the grounds of the plaintiff’s action and it therefore rests upon the plaintiff to trace the fact of his injury to the defendant by proving negligence upon the part of the defendant, or his son, who, it is alleged was driving the Hall automobile at the time of the collision, and for this purpose the plaintiff must show the circumstances under which the injury occurred, and if from these circumstances so proved by the plaintiff, and from all the evidence, including the evidence of the defendant, it appears that the fault of the injury was mutual, or in other words, if both the plaintiff and Leslie Hall, Jr were negligent, then the court directs you to return into open court with the following verdict. We, the jury, agree and find for the defendant. GIVEN John W. Hereford,-Judge.” Plaintiff’s objection to Instruction No. 4 reads as follows: “The plaintiff objects to the Defendant’s Instruction 4 on the ground it is a restatement of contributory negligence as contained in Defendant’s Instruction No. IB. THE COURT: Given. (Exception)” Defendant’s Instruction No. 4 reads as follows: “The Court further instructs the jury that if you believe from all of the evidence in this case that the plaintiff was negligent, no matter how small his negligence might have been, you cannot find a verdict for him and must find the following verdict — We, the jury, agree and find for the defendant. GIVEN John W. Hereford, Judge THE COURT: Is there any objection to Defendant’s Instruction No. 5? I object to part of-it. He is.restating contributory negligence again in that instruction, in the second *361paragraph. That part should be stricken. The court should not instruct the jury ten times on contributory negligence. One instruction is sufficient. THE COURT: I am going to give that one. (Exception) DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTION NO. 5 The Court further instructs you gentlemen that the allegations contained in the Declaration of the Plaintiff, Winters B. Crookshank, charging Leslie Hall with some act of commission or omission, acting through his son, Leslie Hall, Jr., and that any act or acts was or were negligent acts, that is neither proof of the act nor of its negligence. You gentlemen cannot guess that the defendant was negligent or that his son, Leslie Hall, Jr., was negligent, but it must be proved by a preponderance of evidence; and if you believe that the plaintiff has failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, negligence on the part of Leslie Hall, Jr., and further that Winters B. Crookshank was negligent in any manner in the operation of the taxi-cab, your verdict must be We the jury agree and find for the defendant. GIVEN John W. Hereford, Judge.”
A cursory reading of the instructions show that they are erroneous. Instruction IB certainly does not include the necessary element that the contributory negligence of the plaintiff, if any, was the proximate cause of his injury. The vice of instruction .4 is similar to that in Instruction IB, disregarding as it does entirely, the element of proximate cause. Instruction 5 also ignores the question of proximate cause. All three instructions are couched in language which requires a verdict for the defendant and are therefore binding. The factual premises set forth in each instruction are not sufficient to support a verdict for the defendant. Undoubtedly, those instructions constituted error in each instance, but the objections of the plaintiff to the instructions do not mention the errors existing therein and are not specific so as to be noticed by this Court:
Rules of Practice of trial court promulgated and made effective by this Court April 10, 1936, apply with parti*362cular force. Rule VI (e) reads in part as follows: “* * * specific grounds of objection only will be considered. [Emphasis.supplied] Exceptions to the refusal to grant or to granting the same or to modified instructions shall be made at the time, or the same shall be deemed to be waived.” 116 W. Va. Ixiii. Reasonable rules may be established under inherent powers of the court, and when such rules are not in excess of its authority, they have the force of law. Piano Company v. Burgner, 89 W. Va. 475, 109 S. E. 491. See Altmeyer v. Fassig, 114 W. Va. 266, 171 S. E. 529.
The objections made by the plaintiff to instruction IB is based upon the theory that such instruction is abstract, but since the evidence is not made a part of the record, that element cannot be considered. If the evidence was made a part of the record, the only question we should consider as relating to instruction IB is that it is abstract for the reason that that is the only specific objection made thereto. The objection to instruction number 4 is made on the grounds that it was a restatement of the law of contributory negligence as contained in instruction number IB. The same objection is made by the plaintiff to the giving of instruction number 5. Those objections if they are specific enough, which they are not, could be considered. But under Rule VI (e), we cannot consider anything except the general objections made by the plaintiff.
It is my thought that rules made and promulgated by this Court should be scrupulously and faithfully observed by counsel and this Court in the consideration of cases to which they apply. We should not adopt the policy of honoring such rules in their breach, rather than in their observance. I think we are paying lip-service to the rule in this case and ignoring the real meaning of Rule VI (e), requiring specific objections to instructions. Though the case is full of error, I do not think any of such errors have been properly and legally presented to this Court, and therefore, such errors should not be considered.
I would therefore affirm the judgment of the trial court.