9 N.C. App. 266 | N.C. Ct. App. | 1970
The charge of the court to the jury contains inadvertent expressions of opinion which entitle defendants to a new trial. The manner of stating the contentions of the parties, if indicative of the court’s opinion, is within the prohibition of G.S. 1-180. Bailey v. Hayman, 220 N.C. 402, 17 S.E. 2d 520. And exceptions to an expression of opinion in the statement of contentions may be taken by the aggrieved party for the first time upon appeal. State v. Powell, 6 N.C. App. 8, 169 S.E. 2d 210.
It may well be that plaintiffs are entitled to have the lease reformed in accordance with their contentions. Nevertheless, defendants are entitled to have the case presented to the jurors without their being subjected to the opinion of the trial judge upon what the facts of the case are or what the verdict should be.
New Trial.