v.
CITY OF INDEPENDENCE
This is an action for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff from a. fall upon a defective sidewalk in' said city, in which the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff and her damages assessed at one cent.
The errors assigned for reversal are, in substance: (1) The exclusion of some evidence as to the condition of the sidewalk. (2) The exclusion of some: evidence of declarations of plaintiff, after suit brought, as to her then suffering pain. (3) That on the evidence, the verdict is the result of bias, prejudice or passion, and the court erred in not granting a new trial for that reason.
[*573]
In the Fischer case, the serious character of the injuries of the appellant stood confessed, and a verdict in her favor for one dollar was set aside and a new trial [*574] ordered, because such a verdict in such a case could be explained alone as the product of prejudice or some kindred motive. Rut in this case, the question whether the plaintiff did receive serious injuries or not was the very bone of contention; and, while there was ample evidence upon which the jury might have found that she did, there was also substantial evidence tending to prove that she did not. A verdict for nominal damages in such a case affords no ground for attributing the verdict to prejudice or some kindred motive. Weinberg v. Railroad, 139 Mo. 286, is a case directly in point, in which the verdict was for the plaintiff and her damages assessed at one dollar, and on her appeal this court refused to interfere with the verdict, saying: “The evidence as to the extent of her injuries was conflicting. While the evidence upon her part showed that she was quite seriously injured, the evidence upon the part of the defendant showed that she was not, and in fact that her injuries were slight. The jury, it seems, saw proper to believe the witnesses for defendant rather than plaintiff and the witnesses who testified in her behalf. ’ ’
In this case it would serve no good purpose to attempt a summary of the immense mass of testimony contained in this record and endeavor to sift the credible from the incredible therein and determine the weight to be given thereto. It is not within our province to do so. It was the peculiar right and duty of the jury, under the supervision of the court, to do this. They exercised that right and performed that duty under the supervision of the learned judge, who tried the case without error, in a manner to meet his approval; and there being substantial evidence therein to support the theory that the plaintiff did not receive serious injury from her fall, the verdict is logical, and the record furnishes no ground for our interference with it, or the judgment thereon. The judgment of the circuit court will therefore be affirmed.