Juanita Morgan v. Paul H. Price

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed jury verdicts of $15,000 for Juanita Morgan and $365.27 for her husband against Dr. Paul H. Price for injuries Mrs. Morgan suffered when a deteriorated board broke beneath her on a finger of the defendant's boat dock. The court held that whether she was a business invitee owed the duty of ordinary care in maintaining the premises, and whether the defendant negligently breached that duty, were factual questions properly resolved by the jury, and the verdicts approved by the trial court were not clearly wrong. It rejected the remaining assignments of error concerning refused instructions, an insurance notation on an admitted doctor's bill, rebuttal testimony about the defendant's statements to a boating-guide editor, and the directed-verdict motions, the last also waived. Although the court strongly disapproved the trial court's use of the deliberating jurors in two other trials, it held the defendant's failure to object before the jury was discharged barred that ground on appeal.