Green v. Southern Pacific Co.

Citations

• 122 Cal. 563
• 55 P. 577
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 633

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Action eor Death—Evidence—Poverty of Plaintiff.—In an action for a death caused by the alleged negligence of the defendant, evidence of the poverty of one of the plaintiffs, a daughter of the deceased, who was living with him at his death, is not competent, and its admission is prejudicial error.</p> <p>Id.—Full Age of Dependent Daughter.—The fact that the daughter of the deceased, who was living with him, was of full age, does not entitle her to prove her lack of means of support, as against the defendant, against whom the action is prosecuted by her solely as one of the heirs-at-law of the deceased.</p> <p>Id.—Repetition of Testimony—Single Exception.—The fact that only one exception was taken to the testimony admitted to prove the poverty of one of the plaintiffs, and that such plaintiff afterward gave testimony on the same subject without objection, does not preclude the defendant from taking advantage of the exception.</p> <p>Id.—Impeachment of Witness—Insufficient Foundation.—The evidence of a witness cannot he impeached by proof of contradictory statements, unless a foundation is first laid for such impeaching testimony; and a conversation about which the witness was interrogated as having taken place during the progress of the .trial, cannot justify evidence of a conversation had in the preceding year.</p> <p>Id.—Instruction—Measure of Damages—Loss of Society—Comfort and Care.—An instruction that the jury had the right to take into consideration the pecuniary loss suffered by the death, and also the loss of the comfort, society, and protection of the deceased to his widow and children, is erroneous in not instructing that the plaintiffs can only recover for the pecuniary loss suffered by the death, and that the loss of society, comfort, and care can only he considered for the purpose of estimating such pecuniary loss; and the vice in such instruction is not cured by a separate instruction, given at defendant’s request, that the jury should conf