19 Ga. App. 307 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1917
The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th grounds of the motion for a new trial are expressly abandoned in the brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error. No review of the evidence developed at the
■ [5] The 12th ground of the motion for a new trial is as follows: “Because the court erred in appointing Dr. J. C. Keaton [and] Dr. J. M. Barnett to examine the person of plaintiff; to which plaintiff objected at the time of the appointment, upon the ground: that said examination caused plaintiff nervous derangement and physical pain and exhaustion; that plaintiff was willing to be examined in the presence of the jury, and expected to be examined that way; that defendant’s doctors had already made ample examination of plaintiff; which objections were then and there overruled, and the appointment made, and an examination made in pursuance thereof.”. The 13th ground of the motion for a new trial is as follows:, “Because the court erred in admitting the following material evidence [set out in an exhibit attached] of Dr. J. M. Barnett, of the examination made by him of the person of plaintiff W. H. Temples, under the order of the court. Movant objected to the evidence at the time it was offered, and did then and there urge the following ground of objection: because said Dr. J. M. Barnett had twice previously testified upon behalf of the defendant.” To these two grounds of the motion the trial
When the panel of twenty-four jurors, including the juror W. A. Sumter, was put upon the plaintiff, the juror, upon examination, testified that he worked for the Georgia Southwestern & Gulf Eailway Company, and as an employee of that railway company could obtain a pass over the Central of Georgia Eailway Company, not on his own request, but by making proper application through the officials of the company employing him; that he was not employed by the Central of Georgia Eailway Company, and had no connection with the Central in any way, and could only obtain
When this case was here before (15 Ga. App. 115, 82 S. E. 777), a new trial was granted because one of the jurors trying the case was an employee of the Atlantic Compress Company, a corporation in which the defendant, the Central of Georgia Eailway Company, owned at the time of the trial 610 shares of.stock of the par value of $100, and it was agreed when the motion was heard that, though the juror Whitehead owned no stock in either the Atlantic Compress Company or the Central of Georgia Eailway Company, his position as an employee of the Atlantic, Compress Company was his sole occupation, and, under his contract of employment, the duration thereof was fixed by the pleasure of his employer, and that the juror was under the impression and in a general way believed that the Central of Georgia Eailway Company owned stock in the compress company, though he had no actual knowledge of the fact or of the amount so owned, and that he would testify that these facts did not in any way influence him as a juror in the trial of the ease. The disqualification held to be material existed at the time when the juror Whitehead actually served, for the Central of Georgia Eailway Company then owned the stock in the Atlantic Compress Company, and Whitehead was then an employee of the latter company, and subject at that time to a discharge, which might be brought about or induced by the Central of Georgia Eailway Company, as one of the large stockholders of the compress company. In the trial now under consideration there was no evidence showing that either the juror Sumter or any member of his family then was in possession of any unused pass or other evidence of favor from the Central of Georgia Eailway Company. Sumter neither owned stock in the Central of Georgia Eailway Company nor had any apparent interest in the result of the litigation between the plaintiff and that company. The court saw no reason to impute to him bias or prejudice, either from his de
From the former opinion in this case (Temples v. Central of Georgia Railway Co., 15 Ga. App. 115, 82 S. E. 777), it appears that Whitehead, on account of whose disqualification as a juror a new trial was granted, actually served on the jury that returned the verdict complained of, while in the present ease the juror Sumter did not -aid in fashioning the verdict arrived at by the jury. Regardless of. what may be the rule in other jurisdictions, the question as to the disqualification of a juror in this State must be
It may not be inapropos to say generally that there was a sharp conflict in the evidence as to whether or not the plaintiff in this case had in fact suffered injury as alleged by him, and some testimony from which the jury were authorized to infer that if the plaintiff had in fact suffered such injury, the injury resulted from accident purely, and not from negligence on the part of the defendant. Likewise, at the trial now under review a sharp attack was made upon the credibility of the plaintiff, and admissions were drawn from him that on previous trials he made various statements which he knew to be untrue, for the purpose of misleading, or, as he expressed it, “bluffing” counsel for the defendant. It is not for us to say what degree of credibility a jury should attach to the testimony of any witness or witnesses in a trial, or to question their acceptance of the testimony of the medical commission appointed by the court, to the general effect that the plaintiff was a malingerer, who was not in fact suffering from any physical injury, but that his state of health resulted from his unfortunate and long-continued use of drugs. The conclusion reached by the jury is apparently supported by a preponderance of the testimony, but whether this is true or not it -is not within the purview of this court to determine. The fact that after two previous verdicts in his favor, the jury hearing the explanations offered by the plaintiff as to his previous contradictory evidence, and hearing the testimony of the physicians who examined him under the order of the court, to the effect that he was not injured at all, and also hearing his own statements in regard to this physical examination, and observing his manner while on the stand, nevertheless found a verdict against him and in favor of a railroad corporation, in whose behalf but little partiality is generally shown by the mass of citizens from whom juries are drawn, indicates clearly that in the
Judgment affirmed.