McBroom v. Orner

The judgment for the plaintiff in this case must be reversed, and this cause remanded for a new trial— several jurors having gone on an exploratory investigation of an automobile-collision site and reported their findings to the other members of the jury. Their findings, in part, were contrary to the testimony of the defendant’s key witness; and, the jurors’ investigation being unknown to the defendant, he had no opportunity to rehabilitate his witness or to explain what, to the jurors, must have seemed untrue statements.

Not every unauthorized view of the scene of an accident will justify the…