Glen W. Persons v. Gerlinger Carrier Company, a Corporation

With the hindsight so characteristic of many appellants, the plaintiff below now vigorously attacks the instructions of the District Court — instructions to which his counsel formally announced there was no objection, in a statement made in open court immediately after they were given.

The appellant also assails the admission of certain testimony relating to the appellee’s officers’ lack of notice of any previous comparable accident involving any of its fork lift trucks while operated without the boom. It is assumed by the appellant that there is a conflict of laws between California, the locus in quo, and Oregon, the locus fori. As we shall see, this conflict is largely illusory.

1. Statement of the Case

The appellant brought an action for $205,000 as general damages for the ap-pellee’s alleged negligence in the manufacture and assembling of a fork lift truck, which it is asserted tipped over and injured the appellant while he was driving it. The jury returned a verdict for the appellee, and the present appeal is from a judgment based upon that verdict.

2. Statement of Facts

According to Arthur M. James, an expert witness for the appellant, a fork lift truck is used to…