Leifermann v. Daniels

Bronson, J. The plaintiff recovered a verdict of $2,500 for indecent assault; the defendant has appealed from the judgment rendered and the order of the trial court denying a new trial. The defendant is a bachelor, fifty-nine years of age, engaged in farming; he hired the plaintiff as his housekeeper; the plaintiff was a married woman with two little children, having left her husband for his failure to support her. The plaintiff was needy and so worked out in an endeavor to support herself and her two little children. The agreed compensation for this work was $5 per week. She remained in the employ of the defendant about two weeks. There is evidence in the record that the defendant, at the beginning of the employment, attempted to take indecent liberties with the plaintiff; that his attempts in this direction continued at intermittent periods, finally culminating in a bolder attempt to have sexual intercourse with the plaintiff. All of these attempts the plaintiff resisted. She was compelled to, and did, leave his employ. The main contention of the defendant is that the damages awarded are so excessive as to show the influence of passion and prejudice of the jury. The trial court, in a memorandum opinion denying a new trial, comments upon the record testimony, observing particularly the ladylike demeanor of the plaintiff and the testimony which discloses her effort as a good, virtuous woman to perform hard work in order to maintain herself and her two little children, and, in contrast, the acts of the defendant and the testimony in the record to the effect that he claimed such privileges with housekeepers that might work for him. We agree that the trial court did not err in denying a new trial. The fact that the plaintiff, shamed and humiliated, wept while on the stand as a witness, does not warrant the conclusion of this court that the jury were influenced thereby through passion or prejudice. The question of damages was properly a question of fact for the jury. It was eminently the duty of this defendant to protect the plaintiff as a woman and as a mother in every manner. The assault, as found by the jury, was aggravated, and [80] severely deserves condemnation in law. We find no error in the record. The judgment is affirmed, with costs to the respondent. Christianson, Ch. J., and Grace, and Birdzell, LL, concur.