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Manning v. Interurban Street Railway Co.

88 N.Y.S. 386 Court N.Y. App. Term Decision date 1904-05-19 English

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p. 386
MANNING v. INTERURBAN ST. RY. CO.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Term.
May 19, 1904.)

Headnote

1. Witnesses—Competency—Knowledge.
A witness who had never seen the horse before he was injured was not competent to testify as to his value before the accident.
Appeal from Municipal Court, Borough of Manhattan, Third District.
Action by Peter Manning against the Interurban Street Railway Company. From a Municipal Court judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed.
Argued before FREEDMAN, P. J., and TRUAX and SCOTT, JJ.
Henry W. Goddard and William E. Weaver, for appellant.
E. Van Dernoot, for respondent.

We are of the opinion that, in the absence of proof reasonable value, the money paid by plaintiff for horse hire and wagon hire formed no portion of the damages for which plaintiff could recover in this action. Certainly he would not have had the right to hire a wagon and a horse for a year, and charge the defendant with the sum he had paid for wagon hire and horse hire. Moreover, it was error to permit the witness Schumacher to testify as to the value of the horse before the accident, because there is no evidence that he had ever seen the horse before the accident.

Judgment is reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to the appellant to abide the event, unless plaintiff consents to a reduction of the judgment to $70, in which case judgment is affirmed, without costs in this court.