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Evidence-Presumptions-Plaintiff's Res Ipsa Loquitur Against Defendants Presumption Of Due Care, Bernard A. Petrie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for injuries resulting when an automobile which defendant was driving and in which plaintiff was sleeping left the highway. There was evidence that defendant suffered retrograde amnesia and could not recall the circumstances of the accident. The court, instructing on res ipsa loquitur for plaintiff, told the jury that it might infer negligence from the fact that the automobile inexplicably left the highway. The court also instructed that, if the jury believed that defendant suffered a loss of memory, defendant was presumed to have exercised due care. Verdict for defendant. Plaintiff contended that instruction on the presumption of …