Schellhouse v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co.

For the reasons which follow, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand this case for a new trial. The difficulty faced by the trial court, the court of appeals, and now this court, stems from the failure to follow Civ.R. 49 in the trial of this case. Our analysis starts at that point.

This case was submitted to the jury as a set of five interrogatories, with no instruction or form given the jury directing it to return a general verdict. This resulted in what is known as a “special verdict.” See Black’s Law Dictionary (6 Ed.1990) 1560.

*524Civ.R. 49(C) commands that “[sjpecial…