81 So. 318 | La. | 1919
This is an action sounding in damages, alleged to have grown out of a personal encounter between plaintiff and defendant.
The defendant admits the difficulty, but pleads self-defense, and makes a reconventional demand for damages on account of false arrest.
The case was tried before a jury and resulted in a verdict rejecting the demands of both parties. Judgment was signed in accordance with said verdict, and plaintiff has appealed.
Opinion.
The issue involved here is almost solely one of fact. Plaintiff swears that the difficulty arose under the following circumstances, to wit:
That on May 16, 1914, he had started out with his fruit and vegetable wagon to cover his usual route of trade, and had stopped his wagon in front of the house of a Mrs. Bentrop and, with his basket of fruit on his shoulder, was in the act of going into her gate, when he was hailed by defendant; that just a few moments prior thereto he had passed defendant on the main street in the town of Patterson, La., each traveling in his own wagon and in opposite directions; that, when he was called by the defendant, he turned around and walked back a few feet in the direction from which defendant was coming, plaintiff still having his basket of fruit on his shoulder, and, when they met, they saluted each other in the usual manner; that defendant immediate
Defendant admits that he stopped his wagon on the morning of the difficulty, got out, and walked back in the direction of plaintiff, and called to the latter with the statement that he wanted to see him; that they spoke in the usual manner, and he then asked plaintiff why he had reported him to the officers; that plaintiff denied this and began cursing both defendant and the officers from whom the information was obtained; that at the same moment plaintiff put -his basket down on his leg and hit defendant in the face with his fist; that they then clinched, and in the tussle fell in the ditch, where they fought for some little time with first one and then the other on top, until the negro Donnell called to them to stop; that he got up and proceeded up the street in a fast walk, because he saw the brother-in-law of plaintiff coming and was afraid that the two together would kill him. He denies that his son participated in the difficulty at all. Defendant’s son, who was a lad about 11 years old, testifies, in substance, to about the same state of facts.
These were the only eyewitnesses to the actual difficulty, except that a Mr. David Peterson, who was standing some 250 feet away, says that he saw the two wagons stop, and that defendant got out and walked back in the direction where plaintiff was standing. However, his view of what took place thereafter was cut off by plaintiff’s wagon, which stood between him and the place where the difficulty occurred; and that he did not feel sufficiently interested to go down there and, after seeing defendant walk hurriedly up the street, he (Peterson) went back in his house.
Plaintiff’s basket and its contents were found scattered, in the street, and this with
We therefore conclude that defendant started the difficulty and is responsible for whatever damages were suffered by the plaintiff as a result thereof. It is undisputed that plaintiff received a broken ankle, from which he suffered considerably thereafter, as well as other bruises and scratches on his face, and that, in view of all the circumstances, a judgment for the sum of $500 would work substantial justice between the parties.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the judgment appealed from be, and the same is hereby, annulled and reversed, . and that the plaintiff do now have