JURY’S VERDICT

Hokitika Guardian, 4 February 1928, Page 3

JURY’S VERDICT

INFLUENCE OF PRETTY WOMEN. CHRISTCHURCH, Fob. 2. Argument was heard yesterday morning on a recent Timarn case where Bernard Philip Conlon was granted £IOO damages, against Dr Thomas L. Parr and Dr William H. Unwin. The facts of the previous case, when the damages were awarded by a jury, were that Conlon. a 12-year-old hoy, was an inmate of the Timaru PublicHospital, and a portion of skin was removed from his leg for grafting ori another patient. The evidence of Dr Parr was that the hov consented to the skin being removed, but the jury decided that it was not clear whether or not the hoy had given his consent, and awarded damages. In yesterday’s action an application was made l»y the defence I Mr C. A. L. Treadwell) that a new trial be ordered, or judgment given for the defence, on the ground that the verdict of the jury was against the weight of evidence. Mr F. D. Sargent appeared for Conlon. Mr Treadwell characterised the previous action as one which supported the statement that in certain question a jury’s verdict could not he accepted as decisive. He recalled a case in which a woman’s attitude and sobbing had been suggested by Air Justice Husking as having had a probable elfect on the jury. “In that case I learnt myself,” said AD' Treadwell, “that it is practically impossible to obtain, from a common jury, a verdict against a pretty woman who cries at the right times.’ After hearing legal argument his Honour reserved his decision.