Helm v. Speith

This case grows out of a collision of the appellants automobile with a cow on a public road slightly after dark on January 7, 1955, in which the plaintiffs car was demolished, the wife injured, and the cow killed. This decision involves the question as to which party to the litigation had the duty of going forward with the production of evidence. After the appellants (to whom we shall refer as plaintiffs henceforth) had produced evidence of the accident and of the appellees ownership of the cow, the trial court peremptorily instructed the jury to find for the defendant (appellee) on the theory that the plaintiffs had failed to establish the defendants negligence in permitting the cow to stray upon the public highway.