259 A.D. 855 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1940
The action is to recover damages for the wrongful death of plaintiff’s intestate, a pedestrian, who fell into a sewer trench dug by the defendant Kennedy & Smith, Inc., a contractor, along the center of the sidewalk on the south side of Astoria avenue between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh streets, Queens county. Plaintiff sued the contractor and the city, and the latter’s answer contains a cross-complaint against the contractor. The jury rendered a ten to two sealed verdict for the plaintiff against the city for $8,000, and against the contractor for $8,000, and judgment was entered in plaintiff’s favor against both defendants as on a verdict for $16,000, and the city had judgment for the same amount on its cross-complaint against the contractor. The city and the contractor appeal from the judgment, and the contractor also appeals from the judgment in so far as it is in favor of the city on its cross-complaint. When the sealed verdict was opened the court stated that he would instruct the jury as to the proper form of their verdict, “ or else if you gentlemen consider that we are only saving a little time by doing so, we might now ask them what they meant by what may be an ambiguous verdict.” The court further stated that he would not ask the jury as to what was their intention, unless all parties agreed. Counsel for the city and the plaintiff expressly stated they had no objection, and counsel for the contractor offered no objection.