57 Kan. 361 | Kan. | 1896
It is the duty of a railroad company to afford a sufficient time to passengers to alight in safety by the*
"When the cars stop at a passenger’s place of destination it is his duty to leave the car without unnecessary delay, and the company’s to give him a reasonable opportunity to do so with safety. The exact length of time to be given must depend very largely upon circumstances. ... It certainly would not be permissible for them to be so reckless of the lives and limbs of passengers as to start the trains when they know, or with reasonable care might know, that passengers are in the act of alighting.”
The defendant lays much stress upon question three submitted by it and answered by the jury as to the conduct of Walters. The evidence shows that Walters was a passenger whose destination was also Leona ; and although this fact does not appear in the findings, yet the answer to said question three is not inconsistent with the answer to question six submitted by the plaintiff, and Walters was perhaps only one of several who obstructed the plaintiff’s way and contributed to her detention. The defendant cites
The writer does not understand that his associates consider it proper practice for the court to rule upon a defendant’s motion for a new trial after it has already rendered judgment in his favor upon the findings of fact notwithstanding the general verdict; but they say the journal entry shows that the general verdict did not receive the approval of the trial court, and for this reason no judgment ought to be rendered thereon ; and that this principle is well established in this state. Richolson v. Freeman, 56 Kan. 463, and cases cited. In all these cases, however, the motions for a new trial required and demanded the consideration of the trial court; and the reasons for judicial action therein being stated in the record, and exceptions being properly taken and preserved, it became incumbent on this Court to consider them. If in any of these cases no motion for a new trial had been filed, or if the overruling of such motion had not been excepted to, then all alleged errors of law occurring at the trial for which a new trial might be granted would have been waived. City of Atchison v. Byrnes, 22 Kan. 65. The condemnation of the verdict by the trial judge, although appearing in the journal entry, would be disregarded by this Court; for it would constitute no legitimate part of the record. In the present case, the
But the majority of the Court being of opinion that the reasons for the action of the trial court as stated in the journal entry should not be ignored, the judgment of the District Court will be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
Allen, J. In this case the defendant contended that the verdict was not supported by the evidence, and also that under the law it was entitled to judgment against the plaintiff on the answers of the jury to the special questions submitted. These contentions are not necessarily inconsistent. Both may be sound. To present both questions to the trial court, the defendant filed two motions : one to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial, the other for a judgment in its favor on the special findings. If the case terminated in the District Court there would be no necessity for considering both motions if one should be sustained.
In this case the Court held that on the facts found the law was with the defendant, and rendered judgment accordingly. It is true that so far as that court was then concerned there was no occasion to pass on the motion for a new trial, for the defendant had obtained all that it could gain by a new trial without the trouble and expense attending one. But this Court holds against the defendant on the law, and it now becomes of vital importance whether the findings are right or wrong. Whether the trial court would have been warranted in requiring the defendant to elect on which
While the jury are the triers of the facts, the judge who presides at the trial also hears the evidence and sees the witnesses. He has the power, and it. has often been declared to be his duty, to set the verdict aside if it is not in accord with the evidence. K. C. W. & N. W. Rld. Co. v. Ryan, 49 Kan. 1, and cases cited. To direct a judgment on the verdict in this case would be to require the rendition of a judgment against the defendant on a basis which the trial court has said is untruthful.
Whether the trial judge ought or ought not to have incorporated the statement in the journal entry, under the circumstances, does not seem to me a matter pf first importance. We are notified by the record that in his judgment the matters found by the jury are not facts but falsehoods. With such, a notification, whether formal or informal, the Court certainly ought to hesitate long before ordering a judgment on such a
I am authorized to say that Mr. Justice Johnston concurs in these views.