Perryman v. Rosenbaum

A jury is unlettered in legal procedure. It has only its common sense, collective experience, the evidence and argument presented to it, and the court’s charge to guide it in discharging its duty.

In this case involving multiple defendants, the jury was asked to consider the separate negligence vel non of two individuals and, if there was negligence, two separate types of damage. The second type was dependent on the first, and the jury was informed that, with respect to the first, other defendants had already agreed to pay plaintiff a half million dollars. The jury was told how to calculate in…