87 Iowa 51 | Iowa | 1893
III. The appellant’s counsel complain of the refusal to give certain instructions to the jury, upon the request of the defendant. The instructions which were given by the court on its own motion covered every conceivable question in the case, and there was no necessity for further instruction. It is claimed that certain parts of the charge to the jury were erroneous. We discover no ground for disturbing the judgment on this ground. The charge, taken as a whole, is a correct exposition of the law of negligence, as applied to the facts disclosed in evidence.
The objection to this part of the charge is that the defendant is thereby made liable if a mere servant of the corporation knew of the defect, or could, with reasonable diligence, have discovered it. The part of the charge above set out, when considered throughout, will not bear the construction contended for. Its whole scope and meaning is that if the 11psroper officers of the city ought to have known of and remedied or removed the defect or obstruction,” and did not do so, then the city was chargeable with negligence. The use of the word “servants” could not have been understood by the jury as other than representatives of the city charged with some duty with reference to maintaining the streets in proper condition for travel.
The case requires no further consideration. We have disposed of it in this general way because, as it appears to us, there is no real ground for objection to any ruling of the court, and we are satisfied that the verdict of the jury finds support in the evidence.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.