Word: plaintiffs
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Yeasty Independence. Today's directed verdict is usually a response to a request from the defendant. Before heeding such a request, a judge will customarily consider all the evidence favorable to the plaintiff, disregard all evidence to the contrary, and decide that even under those circumstances, no reasonable man could find for the plaintiff. Even if the dispute is so onesided that it amounts to "the word of a busload of bishops against the word of the town drunk," says Harvard Law Professor Richard Field, the question must go to a jury...
...time the newly independent U.S. began shaping its own law, another form of directed verdict, called a demurrer to the evidence, was in vogue. Before presenting his own evidence, a defendant could move that the plaintiff had failed to make a case. In some jurisdictions, it was a dangerous gamble. If the judge disagreed, the trial was over: the defendant lost without telling his story. Such a harsh penalty has now largely died...
...taxpayers argued that far more than three pence of their tax money was involved in a federal aid-to-education program that paid for tutoring in parochial schools. But their case was dismissed for lack of "standing." The gist of "standing," the Supreme Court once explained, is whether a plaintiff's personal stake in the suit is enough "to assure sharp prosecution of the issues." And a taxpayer's stake has been held too small to support a suit contending that a federal expenditure exceeded Congress' general powers...
...auto-accident case for a total that was less than the eventual jury verdict-even though its lawyer had indicated that the company's chances of winning in court were somewhat iffy and had actually predicted the size of the verdict if the jury found for the plaintiff...
...mother of his eight children, Hizzoner has most recently been hit with a $100,000 damage suit by Mrs. Ruth O. Martin, 47, wife of his wife's brother. According to Mrs. Martin, she was visiting the mayoral mansion last July when Cavanagh "kicked and knocked the plaintiff against the furniture and onto the floor." Cavanagh's attorney said that the mayor "flatly, absolutely and categorically denied" roughing up his sister-in-law, pointed out thoughtfully that the mayor had fired Mrs. Martin's husband last June from a $14,203-a-year city...