127 N.Y.S. 431 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1911
Appeal by plaintiff from a judgment entered upon a verdict and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.
The action. is for moneys alleged to have been embezzled by' defendant from plaintiff for whom he was office manager. To prove the allegation's of the complaint it became of vital importance to plaintiff to show that a large number of postal cards, apparently signed by workmen in plaintiff’s employ, were in fact in the handwriting of defendant. To. this end plaintiff called a well-known handwriting expert who testified that he had compared the disputed postal cards with papers admitted by defendant to be in his own handwriting,- and that in his opinion all were written in the same hand. The witness was then asked to state the reasons for his opinion. An objection to this question was sustained and the plaintiff duly excepted. This was error. It is a rule of general acceptance that an expert may always, if called upon, give the reasons for his opinion. “ Whenever the opinion of any living person is deemed to be relevant, the grounds on which such opinion is based are also deemed to be relevant.” (Chase’s Stephen’s Digest [2d ed.], 156.) “ On direct examination, the witness may and, if required, must point out his grounds for belief in the identity of the handwriting, on the principle already considered (ante, § 655). Without such a reenforcement of testimony the opinions of experts would usually involve
For these errors the judgment and order appealed from must be reversed and a new trial granted, with costs to appellant to abide the event.
Ingraham, P. J., McLaughlin, Laughlin and Dowling, JJ., concurred.
Judgment and order reversed, new trial ordered, costs to appellant to abide event.