71 Iowa 189 | Iowa | 1887
This is the third appeal in this case. See 50 Iowa, 275; 58 Id., 201. Upon the first submission of the present appeal an opinion was filed reversing the judgment. A petition'ior rehearing was presented, and a rehearing was granted,, and the cause has again been argued and submitted.
It 'is unnecessary to set out the facts of the case, — they fully appear in the opinions on the former appeals;- and we may say, further, that, in view of the investigation this court has made of the case in all these appeals and on this rehearing, we think it unnecessary to elaborate the case further
We think it is apparent that the requirement to submit the questions to the attorneys of the adverse party is limited to such questions as are requested by the parties. When the court, on its own motion, submits questions of fact to the jury, they are not in the interest of either party, and there cannot be any party adverse to the questions submitted, and there is no more reason for submitting them to one party than to the other. It will be observed, from the questions- and answers, that the jury found that neither Ralls nor Willits made any false representations as to the character and capacity of the stream as a water-power. The question, then, as to Willits’ liability
Now, if the court correctly instructed the jury as to what constituted actionable false representations, if there were erroneous instructions as to Willits’ liability for Ralls’ misrepresentations, or as to other questions in the case not relating to what constituted false representations, it is very plain that such errors were without prejudice. They could in no way influence the jury upon the question of whether any false representations were made. As to the instructions pertaining to the false representations, we deem it sufficient to say that we find no error in them. The same may said of the alleged errors in the rulings on the admission and exclusion of evidence.
It is said that the case has been five 'times tried to a jury. Previous to the last trial it had been twice appealed to this court. The last trial was had in the light of all that had preceded.it, and our judgment is that there is nothing in the record, as now presented, requiring us to interfere with the judgment of the circuit court.
Affirmed.