Oliver v. Miles
Mississippi Supreme Court
110 So. 666 (1927)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
While partridge hunting, L. S. Oliver and Gordon Shamburger (defendants) shot at a covey of birds flying near a highway and struck and injured Lavell Miles. Lavell had been walking along the highway on a footpath and as a result of being shot, lost an eye. Lavell’s father, Lee Miles (Miles) (plaintiff), sued Oliver and Shamburger, originally in a justice of the peace court for the injuries inflicted upon his son in the hunting accident. Judgment was rendered for Miles, and Oliver and Shamburger appealed to the circuit court, where a new trial was held. Oliver and Shamburger moved for directed verdict because Miles lacked proof of whose bullet struck Lavell, and they contended such proof was a condition for Miles’s recovery. The circuit judge agreed and forced Miles to elect Oliver or Shamburger or suffer the directed verdict. Miles elected a nonsuit to Shamburger and proceeded against Oliver. Miles received a verdict in his favor, and Oliver appealed. Oliver argued that Miles brought the action as a joint suit, that recovery may not be had against one alone, that Oliver and Shamburger’s actions were not joint but several, and that therefore one could not be liable for the other’s actions.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ethridge, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
