Lavender v. Kurn

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Lavender v. Kurn

Argued March 6, 7, 1946
Decided March 25, 1946

Full case name:	Lavender v. Kurn et al.

Citations:	327 U.S. 645; 327 U.S. 645, 66 S.Ct. 740, 90 L.Ed. 916

Prior history:	Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Missouri. 189 S.W.2d 253

Holding

There was sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of the defendants to justify the submission of the case to the jury and to require appellate courts to abide by the verdict rendered by the jury.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Harlan Fiske Stone
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, Stanley Forman Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Frank Murphy, Robert H. Jackson, Wiley Blount Rutledge, Harold Hitz Burton

Case opinions

Majority by: Murphy
Joined by: Black, Frankfurter, Douglas, Jackson, Rutledge, Burton
Dissent by: Reed

Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645 (1946) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States dealing with a negligent wrongful death case against a railroad employer. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered a directed verdict in favor of the employer, claiming lack of evidence of negligence. The Supreme Court overruled the State Supreme Court's ruling, claiming evidence was sufficient enough for the case to be submitted to a jury.

This is a case involving the sufficiency of evidence required to send a case to a jury, as opposed to a directed verdict by the court. The court held that there was sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of the defendants to justify the submission of the case to the jury and to require appellate courts to abide by the verdict rendered by the jury.