10 Or. 349 | Or. | 1882
By the Court,
The respondent, Heneky, brought this action to recover damages from the appellant, Smith, for wrongfully and maliciously shooting and wounding him with a pistol, at Silverton, Oregon, on September 28, 1881. The damages were laid at fifteen thousand dollars; he obtained a verdict and judgment for four thousand dollars. The appeal is from this judgment. The errors assigned in the notice of
The admission of this testimony involves the first error assigned. We think it was admissible on two distinct grounds: First, As tending to show the extent of the respondent’s injury. If he was not only accustomed, but under the necessity, to labor, to provide the means of support for himself and family previous to his being shot by the appellant, the facts of his not doing any labor afterwards, and of his depending on and receiving support for himself and family from his neighbors and the county, certainly did
The second ground of its admissibility is broader, and perhaps even less questionable. The complaint makes a proper case for exemplary damages. It alleges that the injury was inflicted maliciously. We do not feel called upon to discuss the proposition that in actions of this character the jury may give exemplary damages, where malice on the part of the defendant is proven. (Day v. Woodworth, 13 How., 363.) But while appellant’s counsel concede that it might have been competent to prove the pecuniary circumstances of their client, at the trial, with a view to the imposition of exemplary damages, if the proof should justify the conclusion that his act, by’ which the respondent was injured, was not only wrongful but malicious, they contend that the same rule did not apply to the pecuniary condition of the respondent. Greenleaf, in speaking of the amount of damages recoverable in actions of this class, gives expression to the following views:
“Nor are the jury confined to the mere corporal injury which'the plaintiff has sustained; but they are at liberty to consider the malice of the defendant, the insulting character of his conduct, the rank in life of the .several parties, and all the circumstances of the outrage, and thereupon to award such, exemplary damages as the circumstances may, in their judgment, require.” (Greenleaf on Ev., sec. 89.) In Reed v. Davis, 4 Pick, 215, Putnam, J., in discussing the question of excessive damages, in a case of trespass, accompanied with circumstances of harshness and oppression, on the part of the defendants, says: “But the jury had*354 reason to think that some, if not all, of the defendants knew, bnt wholly disregarded the provision of the law,o and supposed that the trespass could be committed with impunity, on account of the poverty of the plaintiff; for one of the defendants (Goodred) stated to a witness, in answer to his inquiry, whether he thought the plaintiff could not make him suffer, that £ the plaintiff had been to gaol and sworn out, and was not able to do anything.’ Now that circumstance was to be taken into consideration by the jury. * * * The plaintiff also was poor. He had seen better days, but had been reduced in his circumstances, lie was thought not able to do anything • in vindication of his rights at the law. But in this the defendants miscalculated. His case has been submitted to a jury of his country, and they have assessed |500 as the damages which he should recover. The jury seem to us to have manifested a strong sense of the security which the dwelling-house should afford to its lawful possessor. They have proceeded upon higher grounds of damages than those which arise merely from bodily wounds and bruises. They have discovered a determination to vindicate the rights of the poor against the aggressions of power and violence. These motives are sound and should be. cherished; and we ascribe the amount of the verdict to these considerations, rather than to partiality, or passion or any unworthy motive.” It is true, the decision in this case was affirmed on the appeal upon an equal division of the court; but it seems quite clear that the difference in opinion among the several members of the court was not as to the soundness of the general doctrine announced in the opinion delivered by Putnam, J., from which we have quoted so largely, but as to its application to the facts in this particular case. We have found no clearer or more satisfactory exposition of the grounds upon*355 which the admission of evidence as to the plaintiff’s financial condition, in a case like the present, can be justified, than the opinion referred to. There are many authorities, however, which recognize and support the doctrine that such evidence is admissible in this class of cases, and we have discovered none to the contrary. (Bump v. Betts, 23 Wend., 85; McNamara v. King, 2 Gilman, 432; Cochran v. Amon, et ux., 16 Ill., 316; White v. Murtland, 71 Ill., 250; Gaither v. Blowers, 11 Md., 536; Buckley v. Knapp, 48 Mo., 152; Clements v. Maloney, 55 Mo., 352.
Some of these were cases of seduction and some of slander. But we can perceive no distinction between cases of seduction and slander and cases of assault and battery, where malice is alleged and proven, so far as it concerns the right of the jury to give exemplary damages, and to take into consideration the rank and pecuniary condition of the plaintiff in order to arrive at a just conclusion as to the amount to be awarded.
The next exception taken by appellant was to the ruling of the circuit court allowing Heneky to testify to the condition of the hat he wore at the time of the shooting, when he first saw it afterwards, without either producing the hat or accounting for its absence. The appellant’s objection was that such testimony was secondary. We think the rule invoked by him only applies to “writings,” and has no application to a case like this. (Code, sec. 681; Commonwealth v. Pope, 103 Mass., 440; The People v. Gonzales, 35 N. Y., 49.)
The circuit court also admitted in evidence, as tending to establish appellant’s liability in the action, a certain deed shown to have been executed by him and his wife to Coolidge & McClaine, of some twenty-five different lots or parcels of land, situated in Marion county, and amounting in
The only remaining questions to be disposed of are whether the circuit court erred in admitting evidence of Heneky’s character for sobriety, and if so, whether any injury to the appellant could have resulted therefrom? He had testified, on his cross-examination, in response to appellant’s questions, that he had taken two drinks of brandy before the shooting occurred. The testimony he had already given on his direct examination, in connection with this admission on hjs cross-examination, showed that he had taken the two drinks of brandy not more than three or four hours previous to the shooting. The respondent afterwards introduced Charles Kosehart as a witness, who had seen IIeneky immediately before the affray took place, and also saw the encounter during which Heneky was shot. In the course
There can be no doubt as to the incompetency of the testimony offered and admitted, touching Heneky’s general character or habits for sobriety. That character ivas not in issue in the case. It could not, in any possible view, affect his right to recover, or the amount of his recovery. And unless general character is involved in the issue, in this sense, evidence in relation to it is inadmissible in civil actions. This is the doctrine of all the authorities. (Porter v. Seiler, 23 Pa. St., 424; Wright v. McKee, 37 Vt., 161; McCarty v. Leary, 118 Mass., 509.) Put there was no evidence even tending to show that Heneky was drunk on this occasion. That he had been drinking brandy, he himself solemnly admitted on his cross-examination. The testimony of Wolford and Fitzgerald, for the defense, did not go beyond this admission. They both give it as their opin
Judgment affirmed.