120 Cal. 476 | Cal. | 1898
Action for personal injury resulting from the capsizing of a stagecoach in which plaintiff was a passenger. Trial by jury and verdict in favor of plaintiff for $2,000. Judgment was entered accordingly, with costs taxed at $121. At the hearing of defendants’ motion for a new trial, the court made an order that if plaintiff would accept $1,621 in full settlement of the judgment the motion for new trial would be denied, otherwise it would be granted. Plaintiff gave notice of acceptance, and the motion was denied. From the judgment and order - .denying new trial this appeal is proseeuted-hy billhfiieeprions.
ff’he only question presented relates to the alleged *miscondtípt of the jury in arriving at a verdict. In support of defendants’ motion their counsel made affidavit,' on information ilBd belief, in which it is stated that the5 jurymen agreed to be governed by the quotient resulting from, the addition of each juror’s estimate of the damage, and diviSieg^-thg— total sum by twelve; that dhis - quotient was $l,891f; that when it was found that the quotient was not a round sum “it was suggested that it would De-brtíerHiRéer -thelr-ynevieus agreement, to insert an sven sum, to wit, $2,000, as the verdict instead of such quotient, which suggestion was, without further consideration o:r discussion of the case, adopted and a verdict so rendered”;
If we were at liberty to accept the affidavit of defendants’ counsel and reject the affidavits of the two jurymen in support of the verdict, we would unhesitatingly decide that the verdict was
We think the trial judge was justified in accepting the statements of jurymen, made under oath, against those of jurymen who were unwilling to either state the facts under oath or to allow their identity to be disclosed. The exhibits attached to defendants’ affidavits show nothing that is not admitted by the two jurymen who made affidavit, and they satisfactorily explained the use made of the tables of figures disclosed in the exhibits.
We discover no error, and therefore recommend that the judgment and order be affirmed.
Haynes, C., and Belcher, C., concurred.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment and order are affirmed.
Harrison, J., Garoutte, J., Van Fleet, J.