251 F. 577 | 3rd Cir. | 1918
This was a suit brought by Robert J. McKibben, a citizen of New Jersey, against the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania. It was for personal injuries sustained by McKibben while working as brakeman on defendant’s train, and which injuries, it was alleged, were caused by the railroad’s negligence. The negligence charged was, inter alia, defendant’s failure to furnish a proper coupler in compliance with the federal Safety Appliance Act. On the trial, the plaintiff recovered a verdict, and, on entry of judgment thereon, defendant sued out this writ. The assignments of error involve two questions: First, the court’s refusal to set the verdict aside by reason of the jury having before them while they were deliberating on their verdict a certain newspaper article; and, second, the refusal of the court to give binding instructions in favor of the defendant.
“We will not enter into a speculative analysis of what effect 1he statement and its repetition to the jury had. It suffices to say the jury improperly had ' before it substantial statements of matters which were not only not in evidence, but which on no principle of law could have been admitted in evidence. The possibility of the verdicts of juries being based on that which is not evidence goes to the very foundation of that fair and impartial trial for which courts exist. Whether the objectionable statements did or did not influence the jury in this particular case is not the test, for this court cannot permit .any such practice to obtain even a foothold in this circuit.”
The judgment below is reversed, and the case remanded for further action.