Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

67 N.H. 384

29 A 846

Trainor v. Heath

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided December 5, 1892

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1892-12-05

Case, for personal injuries caused by tlie defendants’ negligence. The damages demanded exceed one hundred dollars. At the March term, 1891, the case, after having been put upon the jury list, was taken from it by agreement, marked “ issues to the court,” and continued. At the next term it was tried under the agreement, but was not decided. The question was reserved whether the plaintiff is now entitled to a jury trial.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““By the agreement, the plaintiff waived her right of trial by jury. The waiver continues while the agreement is in force. There is no provision in the agreement by which the case is to be tried by a particular member of the court, or at a particular term, or by a jury at subsequent trials if the first does not result in a verdict. Its terms are general, and include all trials that are necessary to reach a decision of the issues. Case discharged. ’ ’”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Shores Co. v. Iowa Chemical Co.

Relies on Wells v. Jackson Iron Manufacturing Co. · Town of Alton v. Town of Gilmanton · Dexter v. Young

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1892-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently June 1954

1 federal appellate · 7 state decisions

701892190019101920193019401950decided

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 →

Chase,'J.

¶1 The agreement binds tlie parties, and, like other agreements made matter of record, should be specifically enforced, unless it appears that it ought to be vacated for good cause. Alton v. Gilmanton, 2 N. H. 520; Fernald v. Ladd, 4 N. H. 370; Dexter v. Young, 40 N. H. 130; Blain v. Patterson, 47 N. H. 523, 526; Wells v. Jackson Iron Company, 48 N. H. 491, 526; Page v. Brewsters, 54 N. H. 184; Brooks v. New Durham, 55 N. H. 559, 561; Vaughan v. Morrison, 55 N. H. 580, 592; Weare v. Putnam, 56 N. H. 49; Woodbury v. Swan, 59 N. H. 515; Russell v. Babbitt, 60 N. H. 373. Whether it should be vacated is a question of fact to be determined at the trial term. By the agreement, the plaintiff waived her right of trial by jury. The waiver continues while the agreement is in force. There is no provision in the agreement by which the case is to be tried by a particular member of the court, or at a particular term, or by a jury at subsequent trials if the first does not result in a verdict. Its terms are general, and include all trials that are necessary to reach a decision of the issues.

¶2 Case discharged.

Clark, J., did not sit: the others concurred.
/67/nh/384 · .json · Public domain