155 Iowa 282 | Iowa | 1912
The plaintiff was engaged in moving a traction engine and threshing machine over a county bridge on a public highway, when the bridge collapsed, precipitating plaintiff and his engine into the ravine below. In this fall, he received injuries of considerable severity, for which he demands recovery of damages, on the theory that the bridge was insufficient in its original construction, and that defendant had been negligent in permitting the timbers used therein to become old and decayed to an extent rendering it unsafe for public use. It is further alleged that the injury occurred on August 10, 1909; that on November
“(1) When the bridge was rebuilt in 1903, do you find that the timbers used were of sufficient size and strength for the ordinary' and probable use of said bridge ?
“(21 Do you find the defect in the bridge which caused the collapse to be a latent defect?
Of these the court approved the first interrogatory, and refused the second and third, ■ marking them accordingly. It is now assigned as error that these questions were all written on the same sheet of paper, and the court, instead of rewriting the one given, attached the original sheet, with the, court’s notations thereon to the instructions, in which form they were sent to the jury. This statement of fact is found only in the motion for a new trial and in counsel’s brief and the assignments of error, and could well be overruled as being without proper support in the record. We may say, however, that, if appellant wished to avoid such an occurrence, it could have availed itself of the easy expedient of submitting its interrogatories on separate sheets. The court should not be-expected to do the clerical, work which belongs to counsel. At the very least, if either party had any exception to the manner in which the submission was made, it should have been taken at the time, and opportunity given to correct any oversight of- this character.
V. The arguments of counsel have been chiefly directed to the points we have discussed in the preceding paragraphs of this opinion. Other exceptions have been
The judgment of the district court is therefore affirmed.