Shimer v. Penn Electric Smelting Corp.

Citations

• 273 Pa. 467
• 117 A. 213
• 1922 Pa. LEXIS 600

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Damages—Charge—Insufficiency of charge as to damages.</p> <p>1. In actions on contracts as well as in actions of trespass, if an instruction is clearly erroneous, it is ground for reversal.</p> <p>2. The jury should have such guidance from the court on the question of damages as will give them an intelligent understanding of how they should be ascertained.</p> <p>3. Where in an action on a written contract the statement of claim sets forth a stated amount as damages, and subsequently the statement is amended so as to aver a change in the original contract by parol, and the damages claimed are identical, but the evidence shows a different amount, and it appears that the accounts are complicated, and that certain claims under the changed situation are not apparent, the court commits reversible error if it does not fully and adequately instruct the jury on the subject of damages.</p>