Albin v. Kinney

Citations

• 96 Ill. 214
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 23

Syllabus

<p>1. Appeal from an Appellate court—review of controverted facts. In an action on the case against a physician for alleged mal-practice, the judgment of the Appellate Court is final as to the facts and the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment of the circuit court.</p> <p>2. Remittitur—in avoidance of a motion for a new trial. The rule is uniform that on a motion for a new trial on account of excessive damages, the plaintiff may remit a portion of the verdict to obviate the objection. The court can not compel him to do so, but he may if he so elect.</p> <p>3. Error will not always reverse—as to the admission of evidence. On the trial of a cause against a physician for want of ordinary care and skill in the treatment of the plaintiff for disease, the defendant called a witness who testified on his behalf that he had known the defendant as a physician for thirty years, and had never heard his qualifications as such questioned before the trial. On cross-examination the plaintiff elicited the fact that the defendant had been charged with committing an abortion on a woman, causing her death. It was held, that while it may not have been technically correct to allow the testimony given on the cross-examination, yet, in view of the testimony given for the defendant, it was not hurtful to him, and the error, if any, was of so slight a character as to afford no ground for a reversal.</p> <p>4. A trivial error committed by the court on the trial of a cause will not be sufficient ground for a reversal, where the proceedings are in all other respects regular, and the judgment seems to do justice between the parties.</p>