Provident Life & Trust Co. v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 202 Pa. 78
• 51 A. 597
• 1902 Pa. LEXIS 467

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Damages—Allowance for delay — Interest—Province of court and jury.</p> <p>Where interest is recoverable of right a jury may be instructed to give it, but in a proceeding to open a street, where additional damages in the nature of interest may be allowed as compensation for delay of payment, it is not the province of the court to direct their allowance. Whether they should be allowed depends upon circumstances, and must be determined by the jury as other elements of damage are.</p> <p>Practice, O. P. — Trial—Appeal—Harmless erroi — Road law.</p> <p>Where there has been a fair and careful trial, an objection raised for the first time in an appellate court should not lead to a reversal, unless it is a serious one, and affects the merits.</p> <p>Where a trial judge has carefully explained the distinction between the allowance of interest as such, and the allowance of additional damages in the nature of interest as compensation for delay in payment, a further statement, not objected to at the time, that if the jury should find for the plaintiff they should allow damages for the delay in payment, while technically erroneous, is not ground for reversal, and this is especially so where the amount of the verdict shows that the defendant suffered no substantial harm.</p>