DocketNumber: No. 3362.
Citation Numbers: 32 A.2d 324, 92 N.H. 405
Judges: MARBLE, J.
Filed Date: 5/4/1943
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2023
Defendant's counsel question the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the trial court's conclusion that both jurors knew that the defendant "was insured with the automobile company, at the time of the trial, and that the insurance company was defending the case." The jurors testified that they knew that the defendant solicited insurance for the Farm Bureau fire insurance company, and it could be found that they also knew that he had some connection with the automobile company; but they were not asked if they *Page 407
knew he was insured by the latter company or if they knew that that company was conducting the defense of the action. An affirmative finding that they had knowledge of these facts could not properly be based solely on their appearance and manner of testifying. Albee v. Osgood,
But even if they possessed such knowledge, they were not necessarily disqualified. The evidence plainly indicates that the recovery of a verdict against the defendant would not, in any reasonable likelihood, have meant an increase in the premiums charged the policyholders of the automobile company or the levying of an assessment against them; and it is the rule in this jurisdiction that "a juror may have a minute and remote interest" in the outcome of the cause and yet "be found indifferent." State v. Sawtelle,
In the case of Shulinsky v. Railroad,
There is no merit in the plaintiff's contention that the court's general finding that the jurors were disqualified includes the special finding that the plaintiff was diligent, no request for a special finding to the contrary having been made. In the first place, the court's reference to the Shulinsky case as sufficient authority for the conclusion reached would indicate that the general finding, so called, is not strictly a finding of fact but rather a ruling of law. In the second place, the defendant's motion to dismiss, made at the conclusion of the evidence, raised the question of the sufficiency of the evidence as to every essential element of the plaintiff's claim (Record v. Corporation,
Exceptions sustained.
BURQUE, J., did not sit: the others concurred.