§ 25-1120.Special verdict; controls general verdict.

Juries sometimes return both a general verdict — a simple win for one side — and specific factual findings on particular questions. Section 25-1120 tells a court what to do when those two things point in different directions: the special finding of facts controls over the general verdict, and the court may give judgment accordingly.

The reasoning follows from what a special finding is. A jury’s answers to specific factual questions reflect exactly what it decided about the evidence, while a general verdict is a broader, less detailed conclusion. When the two conflict, the detailed factual finding is treated as the more reliable statement of what the jury determined, so the court leans on it rather than the general verdict.

This section works hand in hand with section 25-1121, which lets a court direct a jury to answer particular questions of fact even while returning a general verdict, and section 25-1122, which defines the difference between a general and a special verdict. A conflict of the kind this section addresses can arise only when the jury has been asked to do both.