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20 Colo. 303

Richards v. Richards

Supreme Court of Colorado

Decided September 15, 1894

Supreme Court of Colorado · decided 1894-09-15

This action was originally brought before a justice of the peace to recover for services rendered. There are no written pleadings. Upon an appeal to the county court the case was tried to a jury and resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff for the sum of $153.55. Defendant brings the case here on appeal.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“no affidavit, deposition or other sworn statement of a juror will be received to impeach the verdict”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Stewart ex rel. Stewart v. Rice

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1894-09-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently May 2002

9 state decisions

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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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Mr. Justice Goddard

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2Numerous errors are assigned, but counsel for appellant discusses but one, and that is alleged misconduct on the part of the jury in this: that they failed to consider the counterclaim interposed by defendant. Such misconduct is attempted to be shown by affidavit of counsel of statements made by one of the jurymen to the effect that they did not entertain this question. The affidavit is inadmissible. It is well settled that no affidavit, deposition or other sworn statement of a juror will be received to impeach the verdict, except as provided in subdivision 2 of section 217, Code of *3041887; — much less should the unsworn statement of a juror be taken for that purpose.

¶3The court below instructed the jury fully upon the matter of the counterclaim, and it is to be presumed that it was considered by them in making up their verdict. A careful reading of the testimony introduced fails to disclose any satisfactory evidence to support the alleged counterclaim, and for this reason the jury might well have found against the defendant upon this issue.

¶4This being the only objection urged before us, and it being without merit, the judgment is affirmed.

¶5Affirmed.

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