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64 Conn. 134

Johnson v. Norton

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Decided February 19, 1894

Supreme Court of Connecticut · decided 1894-02-19

Action to recover damages, under § 1344 of the General Statutes, for injuries caused to plaintiff’s land by a fire alleged to have been set by the defendant upon his land, whence it ran upon the plaintiff’s land ; brought before a justice of the peace and thence by defendant’s appeal to the Court of Common Pleas in New Haven County, where it was tried to the jury before Hotchkiss, J. ; verdict and judgment for the plaintiff for $20.00, and appeal by the defendant upon the…

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently March 1907

6 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

New trial denied · Decided 1894-02-19

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Andrews, C. J.

¶2In the latter court- the cause was tried to a jury who returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the same sum. The defendant thereupon moved for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the evidence, and the court certified the evidence to this court. After reading the whole evidence and duly considering the same, we are convinced not only that the verdict is not against the evidence, but that it is fully supported by the evidence, and expresses the only correct conclusion to which the jury could come.

¶3In dismissing the motion we think it necessary only to observe, that while Chapter LI. of the Public Acts of 1893, under the provisions of which this case comes before us, has made some changes in the mode of access to this court, it has made none in the principles which determine under what conditions a verdict may be set aside, as against evidence. It still remains true that this relief will be granted only when manifest injustice has been done by the verdict, and the wrong is so plain and palpable as clearly to denote that some mistake was made by the jury in the application of legal principles, or as to justify the suspicion that they, or some of them, were influenced by corruption, prejudice, or partiality. It could not have been the intent of the new statute to enable counsel to bring a case here, at the expense of the State, upon a motion of this character, which they did not think might fairly be claimed to fall within this rule.

¶4A new trial is denied.

¶5In this opinion the other judges concurred.

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