Lawrence v. Shreve
Supreme Court of Missouri
Error to St. Louis Law Commissioner'’s Court. I. It is the right of the plaintiff to have the law declared. If the law as laid down by the court be such as, on the case made, would not entitle plaintiff to a judgment, it is his undoubted right to take a nonsuit. The plaintiff was deprived of this right by the action of the court.
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Error to St. Louis Law Commissioner'’s Court. I. It is the right of the plaintiff to have the law declared. If the law as laid down by the court be such as, on the case made, would not entitle plaintiff to a judgment, it is his undoubted right to take a nonsuit. The plaintiff was deprived of this right by the action of the court. The plaintiff was waiting for the court to decide on the instructions in order to determine whether or not to submit the case on the facts or to take a nonsuit. The court should have granted the motion for a new trial. I. The court did not err in refusing a new trial.
1Opinion of the CourtNapton, Judge
We think the plaintiff should have been allowed to take a nonsuit in this case. The statute says : “ The plaintiff shall be allowed to dismiss his suit, or take a nonsuit, at any time before the same is finally submitted to the jury, or the court sitting as a jury, or to the court.” When a case is tried by a jury it has been the uniform construction of this law, in practice, to allow a party to get the opinion of the court upon the law of his case in the form of instructions and then withdraw his suit if that opinion is unfavorable. The same opportunity ought to bo afforded in cases where the…
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