Sorgenfrei v. Schroeder

Citations

• 75 Ill. 397

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence — assault and battery—threat not communicated. On the trial of an action of trespass for an assault and beating, the defendant offered to prove that the plaintiff told the witness, just before the difficulty, that he was going to see the defendant, and “ if he didn’t pay Mm, he would fix him,” which the court refused to admit. The remark was not communicated to defendant before the difficulty: Held, that the court did not err, and the remark was unimportant in itself, and not so closely con. nected with the affair as to make it a part of the res gestee,as it was not communicated to the defendant.</p> <p>2. Excessive damages — trespass to the person. Where on the trial of an action of trespass to the person the proofs showed that plaintiff demanded payment of a note of the defendant, and on his refusal denounced him as a swindler; that for this provocation he made an assault upon plaintiff, and struck him a violent blow over the head with an iron bar—an instrument sufficient to have produced death—inflicting a severe injury, which kept him from labor for several weeks, at which he had been earning $4 a day: Held, that $600 damages were not excessive,</p> <p>3. Assault and battery—abusive words no justification. The charging of a party as being a swindler is no justification for his assaulting and beating the person using such abusive words.</p>