Court Opinion

ID: 9584228
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:45:42.484295+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:11.295531
License: Public Domain

Deen, Judge,
dissenting. The judgment from which plaintiff appeals states in part: "Defendant . . . having made a motion for directed verdict at the close of plaintiff’s evidence on all issues pending between the plaintiff and the defendant, and the court having sustained the motion, plaintiff’s complaint is hereby dismissed.” (Emphasis supplied).
The fact that the judge in the oral ruling said he was sustaining "the motions” is immaterial, because it is the written order and not what was said in the colloquy between judge and counsel which controls. Therefore, the enumeration of error was sufficiently specific to raise a question of whether the court properly granted the motion for directed verdict on any issue and for any reason urged by the movant.
*683This petition originally sought judgment for $6,000 plus interest and attorney fees arising out of a contract. The purpose of this contract was to recover a sum paid by the U. S. Engineers to repair a bridge which had been damaged in the course of performing a channelization contract entered into earlier between these parties. The plaintiff highway department added an amendment to its original petition contending that the damage had resulted from negligence on the part of the defendant in performing the original channelization contract and had damaged the plaintiff in the amount of $12,000. (The original action for $6,000 represented plaintiff’s half of this $12,000, the Engineer Corps having absorbed the other $6,000).
From this it appears that the plaintiff is suing the defendant (a) in contract for $6,000, and (b) in tort for $12,000. Reversal of the ground of the motion directed to the contract action does not reverse the entire judgment, but only reverses the judgment insofar as the $6,000 is concerned. Another ground of the motion was the direction of verdict for the defendant on the $12,000 negligence claim.
As I see it, the enumeration of error, taken in connection with the judgment complained of, was sufficient to raise all reasons for directing the verdict. The reversal of the verdict direction on the $6,000 contract action is completely separate from the $12,000 negligence action. As to this latter, this court must say: (a) that the direction of the verdict was error as to this issue also, or (b) that it was correct and on retrial negligence has been eliminated and only the $6,000 contract action is to be retried.