98 Neb. 4 | Neb. | 1915
This action was instituted in the district court for Douglas county to recover damages which plaintiff claims to have sustained as the result of fright occasioned by an assault with a revolver. The-jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $1,933, upon which judgment was entered, and defendant appeals.
The record shows that defendant is a corporation engaged in the sale .of household goods upon the instalment plan. Plaintiff purchased some quilts on that plan, agreeing to pay 25 cents a week on the purchase price. At the time of the alleged assault she ivas in arrears for three or four weeks’ payments. One Grabill, a collector for defendant, called at her apartments to collect her past-due payments. The house appears to have been a duplex house, plaintiff’s mother and sister living on the first floor, and plaintiff, with her husband and family, occupying the second floor. Plaintiff testified that she saw Grabill ascending the stairs,’ and met him at the top and before he had quite reached the landing. Being told by him the purpose of his call, she told him that she did not have the money that week on account of the recent death and burial
Conceding, without deciding, that the evidence was sufficient to take the case to the jury on the question of whether or not an assault had been committed as alleged, we are next confronted with defendant’s assignment of error that “the verdict of the jury is so excessive as to clearly show that it was the result of passion and prejudice.” The testimony as to the extent of plaintiff’s injury was given by herself, her mother and her husband.. Plaintiff testified that when Grabill “pulled the gun on her” she thought he was going to kill her and became very nervous; that immediately after he left she went to bed; that after lying down she was jerking, crying and nervous; that she was frightened; that she remained in bed for a week, nervous and weak; that a physician attended her during the week; that after a week she was able to be up for a while; was up and- down; that this condition continued for four or five days; that the nervous condition was still Av.ith her at the time of the trial; that she had not been well since the assault; that she had not been nervous prior thereto. Her mother testified that after
This is all of the testimony offered as to the nature and extent of plaintiff’s injuries. It shows that they called a physician, who, plaintiff testified, attended her for a week. This physician was not called as a witness, nor any reason assigned why he was not called. There is no evidence to show that after plaintiff left her bed, about eight days after the alleged assault, she was not able to perform all of her regular duties, or that she suffered in any way except from occasional spells of nervousness. Plaintiff testified that at the time of the trial (December, 1912) she was 20 years of age; that she had three children living; one, a babe born October 26, another three, and the
The judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
Reversed.