Pickett v. Crook
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Dodge County. Tbis was an action to recover for injuries inflicted on the plaintiff Elizabeth Piclcett by a ram belonging to the defendant, which was permitted to run in in the highway and is alleged to have been a vicious animal and disposed to injure mankind, of which fact defendant had notice. The answer denied all the material allegations of the complaint as to the injury.
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APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Dodge County. Tbis was an action to recover for injuries inflicted on the plaintiff Elizabeth Piclcett by a ram belonging to the defendant, which was permitted to run in in the highway and is alleged to have been a vicious animal and disposed to injure mankind, of which fact defendant had notice. The answer denied all the material allegations of the complaint as to the injury. The testimony on both sides was voluminous, but need not be stated here. The court instructed the jury that for the plaintiffs to recover, they must find that she was injured by a ram…
1Opinion of the CourtDixon, C. J.
Though the damages do not appear to be ex-ceesive, nor the verdict unjust, yet as the jury acted under an erroneous instruction, the influence of which cannot now be determined, the judgment must be reversed and a new trial awarded. It was error to charge the jury “that they were at liberty to find exemplary damages; that this is one of those cases in which they can be allowed.” This instruction was too broad and unqualified. The conditions under which the jury were authorized to give exemplary damages were wholly undefined ; and the amount of such damages left to a vague sense of propriety…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Smith v. WadeSupreme Court of the United States · 1983
- Pegram v. StortzWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1888
- Meibus v. DodgeWisconsin Supreme Court · 1875
- Meshane v. Second Street Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1928
- Baxter v. CampbellSouth Dakota Supreme Court · 1903
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