Chism v. Cowan

HIGGINS, Commissioner.

Action for damages for assault and battery resulting in verdict and judgment for plaintiff for $50,000 actual and $20,000 punitive damages.

Plaintiff’s first amended petition charged that defendant “without just cause or provocation, wilfully, wrongfully, and unlawfully assaulted the person of the plaintiff with a deadly weapon, by then and there shooting and wounding plaintiff from ambush by means of an automatic shotgun.” Defendant denied the petition and pleaded affirmative defenses that the shooting was an accident and that defendant used only that force which was…