Seaboard Air-Line Railway v. Christian

Mrs. Christian brought in a justice’s court an action against the railway company for the killing of a cow, laying her damages at $40. At the trial on an appeal in the magistrate’s court, she obtained a verdict for $50. The defendant thereupon sued out a certiorari, complaining that the verdict was contrary to law and the evidence, and making the special point that a verdict for $50 was unwarranted in an action wherein the plaintiff claimed only $40. The only testimony as to value offered on the trial before the jury was that of one witness, who swore that the cow was worth $50. Upon the…