Opinion

Goodheart v. American Airlines, Inc.

  • 252 A.D. 660
  • 1 N.Y.S.2d 288
  • 1937 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5755
Court
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
Filed
Dec 30, 1937
Status
Published
Author
Hagarty
On the bench
Hagarty, Johnston
Cited by
28 cases
Authority
More cited than 24.7%

The opinion

Hagarty, J.

(dissenting). I dissent and vote to affirm. This case went to the jury on the theory that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur was solely applicable in accordance with a charge which although brief, was a correct exposition of that doctrine. The plaintiff did not request that the jury be charged that an inference of negligence might be drawn by them from the facts as distinguished from the presumption of law obtaining in a case governed by the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. All requests to charge made by plaintiff were favorably passed upon and, by omitting to take an exception or to request a charge, the plaintiff acquiesced in and accepted the charge in its entirety. Even on the appeal here, appellant does not dispute the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, but, on the contrary, he invokes it; nor does he assert that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. The *664 reversal is predicated upon a theory which has not been invoked by the appellant. It is the court’s theory, and not that of the interested party, and is advanced after a trial in which the jury has exercised its functions after consideration of the issue as submitted to it under a charge which was accepted as the law of the case. In my opinion, this court has no such power. (Galloway v. Erie Railroad Co., 116 App. Div. 777 ; affd., on opinion below, 192 N. Y. 545 ; Silknan v. Schwartz, 201 App. Div. 38 ; Smith v. New York Anti-Saloon League, 121 id. 600.)

Judgment reversed on the law and a new trial granted, with costs to appellant to abide the event.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.