Vlasak v. Gifford

The principal contention upon this appeal is that the court erred in denying plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial because of a substantial defect in the verdict. Question No. 1 is claimed by plaintiffs to have been duplicitous and multiple, rendering it impossible to know what the jury’s finding was, and raising a strong probability that the jury misunderstood the issue presented.

Briefly, plaintiffs contend that they never pleaded negligence in starting the fire that destroyed plaintiffs’ orchard, and that the only issue was negligent mismangement of the fire. Under these circumstances,…