American General Ins. Co. v. Beare

225 S.W.2d 454, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1834
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 15, 1949
DocketNo. 12132
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 225 S.W.2d 454 (American General Ins. Co. v. Beare) 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
American General Ins. Co. v. Beare, 225 S.W.2d 454, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1834 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

This is a workmen’s compensation case.

The plaintiff, the injured workman, properly alleged an accidental injury under the Workmen’s Compensation law, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 8306 et seq. The injury which -he alleged, occurred on July 9, 1945, was an injury to his index finger of his right hand, and he further alleged that infection by. reason of 'blood poisoning thereafter set up. which affected his entire nervous system, causing him to become totally and permanently disabled. Plaintiff [455]*455then, alternatively, pled for “a proper determination as to what compensation he is entitled to receive under the Workmen’s Compensation Laws of the State of Texas.”

The defendant, the carrier of the compensation insurance, defended on the ground that plaintiff did not have any infection, and that his injury was confined solely to the index finger of the. right hand, and affirmatively pled that any loss of the use of his right hand was due solely to the loss of the use of his said index finger.

The special issues, as answered by the jury, which control the judgment which should be rendered thereon are, in substance, as follows:

1. That plaintiff did not suffer an infection from the injury to his index finger.

16-21. That plaintiff’s injury resulted .in the total loss of the use of the-index finger on his right hand, and his disability is not confined solely to the loss of said finger.

22. That the injury to plaintiff’s index finger did extend to and affect the hand. (23) That said injury did result in some loss of the use of the right hand. (24) That plaintiff’s disability is confined solely to the loss of the use of the right hand. (25) That the loss is partial. (26) That the percentage of incapacity thereto is 40%. (27) That same is permanent.

Special issue No. 33 was submitted to be answered by the jury if special issue No. 23 had been answered in the affirmative, and asked:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the loss of the use of the hand resulted solely from the loss of the use of the index finger”. Which the jury answered, “We do”.1

Defendant filed a motion that judgment be rendered for plaintiff “in accordance with the jury’s answers supported by the evidence”. The plaintiff also filed a motion for judgment on the verdict, and, in the alternative, for a mistrial if the special issues as answered were not construed to entitle plaintiff to an award for 40% perm■anent loss of the use of the right hand. The following excerpt from the court’s order on said motion shows the court’s construction of said motions, and his action therein:

“The court having considered the motion of the plaintiff for 40% of the permanent loss of the use of the right hand, and ■having' considered the motion for judgment urged by defendant that judgment be rendered for plaintiff for the loss of a portion of the index finger on the right hand or, at most, the loss of the use of the index. finger of the right hand * * * is of the opinion that the motion of the plaintiff should be sustained * * * ”, and accordingly rendered judgment for plaintiff for 40% permanent loss of his right hand.

Neither the plaintiff nor defendant filed a motion for new trial, and plaintiff, as ■will hereafter appear, urges that defendant’s points cannot be considered upon appeal because the trial was to a jury, and defendant filed no motion for a new trial.

Defendant predicates its appeal upon six points, which- boil down to this contention: That in conformity with the pleadings, the - nature of the case proved, and the jury’s verdict, the court should have rendered judgment for plaintiff for .permanent loss of the use of the index finger on the right hand, and that on appeal this judgment should be so modified.

It is well settled that where a workman sues for benefits under the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Laws, such as for permanent partial incapacity to a specific member of the body, and where same is' not complicated by another injury “he cannot extend his recovery by alleging that by reason of such injury he is incapacitated from performing manual labor.” Petroleum Casualty Co. v. Seale, Tex.Com.App., 13 S.W.2d 364, 366, (the holding therein being approved by the Supreme Court). However, if the workman pleads that the injury also affects other portions of the body and has caused total permanent incapacity, compensation is recoverable and may exceed the amounts [456]*456provided for injury to specific members of the body as provided for in Section 12, art. 8306. Id.; Consolidated Underwriters v. Langly, 141 Tex. 78, 127 S.W.2d 463; Great American Indemnity Co. v. Sams, 142 Tex. 121, 176 S.W.2d 312.

Here plaintiff sued primarily to recover total permanent disability alleging that as a result .of the injury to his index finger “and the infection ensuing, his entire physical structure has been so affected as to render him totally and permanently disabled.” Under the answer of the jury to the first special issue, and plaintiff makes no complaint that the evidence was insufficient to support their answer thereto, any issue of general disability of his entire body went out of the case. And plaintiff became confined to 'benefits for disability in connection with specific members, which resulted from the injury.

By his alternative plea, plaintiff “asks for a proper determination as to what compensation he is to receive under the Workmen’s Compensation Laws of Texas”. In his alternative plea, plaintiff does not specify any injury to any specific member of the body, except as said plea is to be taken as incorporating the allegations of his primary action. In his primary action plaintiff alleges that his hand was caught while he was fitting deck plates to a ship between a plate and an angle support underneath, but specifies that such catching was so that the bones, nerves, muscles and tissues of his right index finger were injured, and that infection resulted that affected other parts of his body. Among the parts of his body so affected by the injury and ensuing infection, plaintiff includes his finger which is caused to throb at night so that he cannot sleep, and so> that his finger and hand are still sore and tender “and every time he attempts to use his hand, his finger comes into contact with something and as a result unbearable pain ensues; * * *

In the absence of special exceptions we think that the pleading is sufficient to support special issues as to an incapacitating injury to plaintiff’s finger and hand. In any case we do not understand that defendant makes any contention that the pleadings before the court, inclusive of its own, were not sufficient to support the special pleadings which were submitted to the jury. Indeed, defendant’s pleadings alone were sufficient to authorize the submission of the special issues with respect to the finger and hand. There appears to be no evidence that any part of .the hand, as distinguished from the index finger, was mashed, that is, directly injured. But there was ample evidence to support the jury’s finding that the injury to the finger extended to or affected the hand. Special Issue No.

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Bluebook (online)
225 S.W.2d 454, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-general-ins-co-v-beare-texapp-1949.