Ryan v. Manheimer

EAGER, Judge.

This appeal is from an order granting plaintiff a new trial in a suit for personal injuries. There was a nine-man verdict for the defendant. While the subject will need some further elaboration, the motion was sustained upon the grounds that the evidence did not support a contributory negligence instruction, and that the instruction as given was erroneous. This action of the trial court necessitates a rather detailed review of the evidence.

Plaintiff, 55 years old at trial, had been a service manager at Castles-Wilson Buick in St. Louis for fifteen years and employed there for…