Gardner v. Michigan Central Railroad

Citations

• 150 U.S. 349
• 14 S. Ct. 140
• 37 L. Ed. 1107
• 1893 U.S. LEXIS 2384

Syllabus

<p>Plaintiff sued defendant in a Circuit Court of the State of Michigan on the caus.e of action for which this suit Is brought. Verdict and judgment were in plaintiff’s favor in the trial court. This judgment'was reversed by the Supreme Court of the State, and a new trial was ordered. When the case was remanded plaintiff voluntarily withdrew his action and submitted to a nonsuit which was not to prevent his right to bring any suit in any court. He then commenced this action in the Circuit Court of the United States. The defendant contended (1) that plaintiff was estopped from bringing this action by the judgment in the state court; (2) that the record showed no negligence on the part of the defendant, and that a verdict should have been directed in its favor. The Circuit Court overruled the lirst contention of the defendant, but accepted the second, and directed a verdict for defendant. Held,</p> <p>(1) That the plaintiff was not estopped from bringing- this action by the proceedings and judgment in the state court;</p> <p>(2) That the evidence in regard to negligence was conflicting, and the question should have been left to the jury under proper instructions.</p> <p>The question of negligence in such case is one of law for the court, only when the facts are such that all reasonable men must draw the same conclusion from them: or, in other words, a case should not be withdrawn from the jury unless the conclusion follows as matter of law that no recovery can be had upon any view which can be properly taken of the facts the evidence tends to establish.</p>