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13 Vt. 68

Needham v. McAuley

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided January 15, 1841

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1841-01-15

Assumpsit, in two counts. The first count- was in common form, for goods sold and delivered, by the plaintiff to the defendant.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1841-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently January 1907

3 state decisions

101841185018601870188018901900decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1The opinion of the court was'delivered by

Collamer, J.

¶2Where there is a general verdict, and one count is insufficient, the judgment, on motion, must be arrested. This has been too often decided in this state to need the repetition of reasons therefor. There was a general verdict, in this case, and the second count states, in substance, that the defendant promised, if the plaintiff would sell and deliver him a certain clock, to pay therefor, but entirely fails to allege that he ever sold or delivered it. This is clearly insufficient. Was this cured by verdict ? \

¶3The law, on this subject, is quite clear; but, in its application, the decisions can hardly be reconciled. The law is, that after verdict, every thing will be intended, or be presumed to have been proved, which is implied or must have appeared in proving what is actually alleged. But “if the plaintiff totally omit to state his cause of action it need not be proved at the trial, and therefore there is no room for a presumption to maintain the verdict.” “ If in an action on a bill, the plaintiff omit to aver presentment ’ to and refusal by the drawee, or that the defendant had notice of non-payment, it is bad after verdict.” 1 Chit. Pl. 722.

¶4In this case there was no averment which implied that a sale was ever made. It was a total omission to state the plaintiff’s cause of action, and that cannot be cured by verdict.

¶5Judgment in arrest affirmed.

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