Richards v. Birmingham School District

The special verdict considered in Mr. Justice Carr’s opinion was returned in accordance with practice dictated by an old statute, the substance of which appeared first in 1885 (PA 1885, No 15) and is now recorded in CL 1948, § 618.39 (Stat Ann § 27.1019).* Assuming that the question or questions answered by the jury are determinative of a controlling issue of fact, the answer or answers (see opinion on rehearing, Tyler v. *513Wright, 188 Mich 561, 567) become the governing verdict and, if they conflict with the jury’s general verdict, the latter falls before the former by command of the statute.…