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45 Wis. 129

Pound v. Roan

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Decided August 15, 1878

Wisconsin Supreme Court · decided 1878-08-15

Replevin, for a span of horses. Plaintiffs purchased the horses of one E. Allen, who purchased them of one Mahoney. Defendants' took them from plaintiffs by virtue of a chattel mortgage on them, executed by Saul & Daily to the defendant Martin. When the mortgage was executed, Saul & Dally owned the team; and they had made default in the payment of the debt secured by the mortgage when the defendants took possession thereof.

Relies on Baxter v. Payne

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1878-08-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently February 1925

11 state decisions

40187818801890190019101920decided

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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LyoN, J.

¶1On the vital question in the case, whether Ma-honey was authorized by the defendant Martin to sell the team to Allen, the testimony is conflicting. It is .quite unnecessary to set out the testimony, or even to express an opinion as to its relative weight. It is sufficient to say that, after a careful examination thereof, we find ourselves unable to hold that the learned circuit judge abused the discretion which the law confers up„on him in such cases, when he granted a new trial of the action.

¶2But we think the new trial should only have been granted on the terms that the plaintiffs pay the costs of the former trial. Such seems to be the rule where the verdict is set aside because it is against the evidence, unless the verdict is a perverse one. Emmons v. Sheldon, 26 Wis., 648; 1 G. & W. on New Trials, 601, and cases cited; Baxter v. Payne, 1 Pin. 501; Carroll v. More, 30 Wis., 574. An honest verdict, *131although unsupported by a preponderance of evidence, is not a jperverse verdict within the rule. There is nothing in the record before us to justify us in holding that this verdict does not express the honest opinions of the jury, or that it was influenced by prejudice or passion.

¶3By the Court. — The order is reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to the circuit court to order a new trial on the terms that the plaintiffs pay the taxable costs of the former trial.

Byan, G. J., took no part.
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