52 Neb. 197 | Neb. | 1897
This was an action by Herman Koch, an infant, against the Norfolk Beet-Sugar Company, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by him while in the employ of the defendant, and alleged to be due to the negligence of the defendant. The plaintiff had a judgment for $1,500. The defendant prosecutes error.
The court submitted to the jury certain questions for special findings. Among them were the following:
“Did the injury the plaintiff complains of result from any act of negligence of the defendant?”
A. “Yes.”
Second: “If the jury answers the above question in the affirmative, state what act or acts of negligence on the part of the defendant caused said injury.”
A. “By permitting a volume of hot water to flow through the sewer in which the plaintiff was at work.”
It is thus evident, both from the petition and from the special verdict, that the verdict was found solely because
After the verdict was returned the defendant objected to the discharge of the jury uatil the questions which the jury had answered “we don’t know” had been properly answered. This objection was overruled and the jury discharged. These questions were of the very essence of the case. Whether it was error of itself, in view of the general verdict, to accept it without an answer to these questions, — the court having already determined that they should be submitted to the jury, — we do not determine. The failure of the jury, however, to answer the
Reversed and remanded.