Allright, Inc. v. Pearson

711 S.W.2d 686, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 11943
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 24, 1986
Docket01-84-0525-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 711 S.W.2d 686 (Allright, Inc. v. Pearson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allright, Inc. v. Pearson, 711 S.W.2d 686, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 11943 (Tex. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinions

[688]*688ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

DUGGAN, Justice.

Our opinion issued January 16, 1986, is withdrawn and the following is substituted. Appellee Carolyn Pearson’s motion to correct judgment is granted; appellant All-right, Inc.’s motion for rehearing is overruled.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in a negligence action awarding actual and exemplary damages. The appellee, Carolyn Pearson, was a customer of the Rice Rittenhouse parking garage, which was operated by the appellant, Allright, Inc., in downtown Houston. On July 8, 1980, Pearson was robbed at gunpoint, and her automobile was stolen from her inside the unattended, multistory garage.

In answer to special issues, the jury found that Allright failed to provide adequate security on the premises (Special Issue No. 2), failed to provide a safe and secure place for Pearson to park her car at the garage (Special Issue No. 5), and failed to warn Pearson that Allright would not provide security after a certain time of day (Special Issue No. 8). Each of these omissions was found to be both negligence (Special Issues No. 3, 6, and 9), and a proximate cause of the robbery incident (Special Issues No. 4, 7, and 10), and a heedless and reckless disregard of the rights of others affected by Allright’s action (Special Issue No. 11). The jury further found that Pearson signed a written contract with Allright on or about June 30, 1980, for her parking in the month of July 1980 (Special Issue No. 12); that Pearson did not read and understand the entire contract before the date of the robbery (Special Issue No. 13); and that Allright had actual or constructive knowledge of a dangerous condition existing on the premises on or before the date of the robbery (Special Issue No. 14).

In addition to property damages to her automobile in the amount of $1,578.10, the jury found that Pearson suffered damages for past physical pain and past and future mental anguish in the amount of $36,000, and awarded exemplary damages in the amount of $50,000. From the judgment entered on the verdict for the plaintiff, Allright urges 62 points of error.

Allright’s first three points of error complain of Pearson’s closing argument to the jury. These points assert that counsel made statements of fact not shown by the record, appealed to the jury’s passion and prejudice, instructed the jury as to the effect of its answers, and made side bar remarks and “improper jury argument.” Allright argues that all of this was cumulatively inflammatory and incurable by instruction, and probably caused the rendition of an improper verdict.

However, Allright urges its complaints as conclusions, and does not cite specific statements that it complains of. Its brief simply refers us by page number to some 37 pages of the argument, pointing to almost every page as containing some offending argument. This does not meet the burden of showing specific argument that constitutes reversible error.

Allright objected on only four occasions during jury argument; the court did not rule on three of these, and overruled the fourth objection and its accompanying motion for mistrial. That instance of argument and ruling was as follows:

PEARSON’S ATTORNEY: If you don’t think your verdict in this case is going to make waves in the parking garage community, you’re dead solid wrong.
ALLRIGHT’S ATTORNEY: Objection, Your Honor.
PEARSON’S ATTORNEY: It’s on the issue of punitive damages, Your Honor.
THE COURT: State your objection from the Bar out loud.
ALLRIGHT’S ATTORNEY: Your Hon- or, counsel is instructing the Jury of the effect of their answers. Defendant moves for mistrial, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Motion for mistrial is denied. Move along. You have three minutes left.

The general rule concerning improper jury argument is that any impropriety of [689]*689allegedly offensive statements is waived by the failure to make proper and timely objection. Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Reese, 584 S.W.2d 835, 839 (Tex.1979). The exception occurs when the argument is so prejudicial that an instruction to disregard would not have removed the prejudice produced. Southern Pacific Co. v. Hubbard, 156 Tex. 525, 297 S.W.2d 120, 125 (1956). Instances of incurable harm from improper argument are rare. The complaining party must first prove: (1) an error (2) that was not invited or provoked, (3) that was preserved by proper objection, a motion to instruct, or a motion for mistrial, and (4) was not curable by an instruction, a prompt withdrawal of the statement, or a reprimand by the judge. Standard Fire Insurance Co., 584 S.W.2d at 839. To be incurable or harmful error, the complainant must show that the probability is greater that the improper argument caused harm than that the verdict was grounded on proper proceedings and evidence. The factors to be examined in making such a determination include: (1) whether the argument by its nature, degree, and extent constituted harmful error, i.e., how long the improper argument continued, whether it was repeated or abandoned, and whether there was cumulative error; (2) the argument’s probable effect on a material finding; and, (3) an evaluation of the whole case from voir dire through closing argument. Id. at 839-40. None of these requirements is shown. Allright’s points of error one, two, and three are overruled.

In its points of error four, five, and six, Allright asserts that it had no duty to provide security on the garage premises or a safe and secure place to park, or to warn that it provided no security after a certain time of day. Accordingly, Allright argues, the court erred in rendering judgment based on the finding of breaches of such duties.

Allright concedes in oral argument that Pearson was an invitee on the garage premises, a person present in response to Allright’s express or implied invitation for mutually beneficial business purposes. See Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Smith, 563 S.W.2d 660, 666 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1978, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The operator of a premises has a duty to an invitee to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition so that the invitee will not be injured. This includes the duty to inspect the premises to discover dangerous conditions. Genell, Inc. v. Flynn, 163 Tex. 632, 358 S.W.2d 543, 546 (1962); Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co., 563 S.W.2d at 666. The operator of a premises is charged with knowledge of any dangerous condition that a reasonable inspection would have revealed, if a reasonably prudent person should have foreseen a probability that the condition would result in injury to another. Seideneck v. Cal Bayreuther Associates, 451 S.W.2d 752, 754 (Tex.1970); H.E. Butt Grocery Co. v. Newell, 664 S.W.2d 116, 118 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1983, no writ).

A business operator has the same duty of reasonable care to foresee and prevent a business invitee from being injured by the criminal acts of third persons. Walkoviak v. Hilton Hotels Corp.,

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711 S.W.2d 686, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 11943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allright-inc-v-pearson-texapp-1986.