Owen v. O'Reilly
Supreme Court of Missouri
Jlppeal from St. Louis Law Commissioner'’s Court. Action for wages, begun before a justice. At the trial'before a jury, upon appeal, the plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove the services for which he claimed to recover, and closed bis case, without having proved the worth o£ the services, and thereupon the court instructed the jury that he could not recover.
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Jlppeal from St. Louis Law Commissioner'’s Court. Action for wages, begun before a justice. At the trial'before a jury, upon appeal, the plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove the services for which he claimed to recover, and closed bis case, without having proved the worth o£ the services, and thereupon the court instructed the jury that he could not recover. He then offered to remedy the omission by the testimony of witnesses present in court, but this the court refused to permit, whereupon he submitted to a nonsuit, with leave, and after an unsuccessful attempt to set the same…
1Opinion of the Court
Ryland, Judge.
The court below should have permitted the plaintiff to introduce his testimony in relation to the value of the services he had rendered the defendant. The instruction that the plaintiff cannot recover in this case, upon the proof madé, was erroneous. He was entitled to recover nominal damages at least. This instruction, then, should have been refused.
It was not a proper exercise of judicial discretion to refuse the plaintiff in this case his motion for leave to introduce this testimony. It was clearly an omission — a mere oversight — and the court ought at once to have suffered…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Brown v. BurrusSupreme Court of Missouri · 1843
- Rucker v. EddingsSupreme Court of Missouri · 1841
3Cited by10 opinions
- Railway Co. v. Fire Ass'nSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1891
- State ex rel. Goddard, Peck & Co. v. RayburnMissouri Court of Appeals · 1886
- Winkler v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.Missouri Court of Appeals · 1886
- Fink v. Higgins Gas & Oil Co.Supreme Court of Virginia · 1961
- Fox v. YoungMissouri Court of Appeals · 1886
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