72 Iowa 145 | Iowa | 1887
The defendant, linder a warrant issued to him by a justice of the peace, arrested the plaintiff, and confined him for a short time, previous to bringing him before the justice, in a railroad box car. The plaintiff claims that the defendant was guilty of a wrong in not bringing him before the justice at once, in order that he might be afforded a speedy trial, and still further in confining him in such a place, to-wit, in a box car which was unventilated and dirty, and in which there was nothing to sit on or lie on. but the floor. The evidence is not set out, and we have no means of knowing what the condition of the car was, or how long the plaintiff was confined in it. The jury found specially that he was intoxicated at the time of his arrest, and it seems probable that it was on account of his intoxication that he was not brought immediately before the justice for trial.
Upon this point we have to say that it does not appear that the plaintiff was prejudiced. The burden was upon him to prove that the car was unsuitable. If he failed to do it, we must assume that the interrogatory, if answered, would have so shown. The evidence is not set out, and all we know about it is merely what can be inferred from what the court did. It first instructed the jury upon the theory that there was evidence tending to show that the car was unsuitable. In the absence of anything else, we should be justified in inferring that there was such evidence. But we have another and subsequent ruling of the court, and that is in overruling the motion for a new trial based upon the ground of the omission by the jury to answer the special interroga
The plaintiff presents several other questions, but the view which we have taken disposes of the case. The plaintiff was intoxicated when arrested, and not in a fit condition to • be taken immediately before the justice for trial. It is not shown that there was any evidence tending to show that the car was unsuitable, and under the ruling of the court we may presume that there was none. The judgment must be
■ AFFIRMED.