Beal v. . Finch
New York Court of Appeals
The plaintiff brought the action against Zachariah Finch and five others, to recover damages for an assault and battery alleged to have been committed by them upon him. The defendants put in separate answers, denying severally the complaint. The cause was tried in August, 1851, at the Delaware circuit, before Justice Mason and a jury.
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The plaintiff brought the action against Zachariah Finch and five others, to recover damages for an assault and battery alleged to have been committed by them upon him. The defendants put in separate answers, denying severally the complaint. The cause was tried in August, 1851, at the Delaware circuit, before Justice Mason and a jury. After the plaintiff had given evidence, tending to sustain the action against all the defendants and rested, the counsel for the defendants Finch and John McKinnon, called Archibald McKinnon, another of the defendants, and requested and offered that he should be…
1Opinion of the Court
This was an action for an assault and battery. On the trial at the circuit, in August, 1851, the defendants were severally offered as witnesses for the other defendants, but were excluded by the judge, to which decision the defendants severally excepted.
Under the late practice it was a great and acknowledged evil, that the plaintiff had it in his power in an action for a tort, by uniting several persons as defendants in one action, to deprive each defendant of testimony to which he would have been entitled, if sued separately. By such means, a plaintiff was often enabled to make out his case…
2Cited by24 opinions
- Gunder v. TibbitsIndiana Supreme Court · 1899
- Kinsey v. William Spencer & Son Corp.New York Supreme Court · 1937
- Nashville Railway & Light Co. v. TrawickTennessee Supreme Court · 1906
- Westfield Gas & Milling Co. v. AbernathyIndiana Court of Appeals · 1893
- Everroad v. GabbertIndiana Supreme Court · 1882
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