Sherman v. Del. Dep't of Pub. Safety

I. Introduction

This is a difficult and unusual appeal, in the sense that the appellant's primary argument, when read closely, is not so much addressed to error on the part of the trial judge as to the prior rulings of this Court that put the trial court in the impossible position of framing jury instructions that required the jury to make findings of fact, when the only open issues were not ones of fact, but of law.

The awful facts of the case are, as one small blessing, unusual, too. The undisputed facts at the center of this case are that Jane D.W. Doe, the deceased plaintiff whose estate is…