Larson v. Jo Ann Cab Corp.

FRANK, Circuit Judge.

1. Plaintiff complains of this only, that the judge erred in that part of his charge, quoted above, concerning the burden of proof, when he spoke repeatedly of the jury’s “conviction.”

2. Courts and commentators have said that, in the ordinary civil suit, usually a judge commits reversible error if he instructs the jury that the plaintiff cannot recover unless he “convinces” them (or the like). 2 Such a charge, it is maintained, indicates something midway between a “preponderance” and “ber yond a reasonable doubt,” and should therefore be reserved for certain excep tional…