34 A.D.2d 1013 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1970
In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, entered October 6, 1969 in favor of defendants upon a jury verdict after a trial limited to the issues of liability. Judgment reversed, on the law and the facts, and new trial granted, with costs to abide the event. In our opinion, the jury was confused as to applicable law, despite having been accurately charged by the learned trial court. After their deliberations the foreman of the jury informed the court that the jury had concluded that both sides were guilty of negligence. The statement of the foreman was improper in form and gratuitous, since only a general verdict was warranted in this ease, no special questions haviner been submitted to the jury. Despite this, however, the statement by the foreman revealed a certain confusion on the part of the jury. Plaintiff was a passenger in a ear driven by his wife, and co-owned by both of them. Defendant Bertolino was the driver of a car which crashed into the rear of plaintiff’s car. Since the negligence of plaintiff’s wife, if such existed, could not be imputed to plaintiff because of co-ownership
