Ancira-Winton Chevrolet, Inc. v. Wilkerson

507 S.W.2d 854
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 20, 1973
DocketNo. 15272
StatusPublished

This text of 507 S.W.2d 854 (Ancira-Winton Chevrolet, Inc. v. Wilkerson) 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
Ancira-Winton Chevrolet, Inc. v. Wilkerson, 507 S.W.2d 854 (Tex. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

BARROW, Chief Justice.

Ancira-Winton Chevrolet has appealed from a judgment entered after a jury trial whereby appellee recovered, pursuant to her motion for judgment, the sum of $3,500.00 for the loss of use of her car because of appellant’s failure to timely repair same, plus $3,000.00 exemplary damages for the fraudulent representation that said car could be repaired so as to be in as good a condition as it was prior to its being stolen and completely stripped.

In September, 1971, appellee purchased a new 1972 Chevrolet Camaro from Doyle Motor Company for $4,600.00, and insured it against theft and other hazards with Dairyland County Mutual Insurance Company. In February, 1972, the car was stolen from appellee’s residence. It was found near the end of the month by the police, but it had been completely stripped, including the engine. The car was towed to Ancira-Winton, and W. H. Holbrook, an adjuster for Dairyland, determined that the car was not a total loss, but could be repaired for $1,705.42. He told appellee that when repaired the car would be in as good a condition as it was prior to being stolen. Charlie Wilmoth, body shop foreman for Ancira-Winton, agreed to perform such repairs for the estimated sum, and in late March was authorized by appellee to perform same. Wilmoth also represented to appellee that the car, when repaired, would be in as good condition as prior to being stolen. He said the repairs would take about two weeks.

The estimate called for a used engine. At this time the Camaro factory was on strike, and used 1972 engines were in short supply and heavy demand. Appellee checked on her car five or six times, and each time, was advised by Wilmoth that he had been unable to secure an engine, but estimated the car would be ready in “two weeks.” In August, 1972, she secured a friend to aid in obtaining the car. He learned that a 1971 engine had been placed in the car, and it needed a valve job. Also, an additional estimated $441.69 was required, which placed the car near a total loss according to Holbrook’s original appraisal.

Appellee decided she did not want the car under these circumstances, and on August 28, 1972, filed suit against Dairyland seeking to declare the stripped car a total loss. She also sought to recover from Dairyland the loss of use of said car as well as exemplary damages for Holbrook’s fraudulent representation that the car could be restored to its prior condition. On December 12, 1972, Dairyland filed a third-party cross-action against Ancira-Winton and sought indemnity or contribution for any damages that might be recovered by appellee against Dairyland. On December 22, 1972, Ancira-Winton filed a cross-claim against Dairyland and appellee seeking to recover the sum of $2,147.11 for repairs to the car, plus storage charges of $3.00 per day after October 1, 1972, when the repairs were allegedly completed. On January 4, 1973, appellee filed a cross-action against Ancira-Winton seeking to recover the reasonable rental value of the car at the rate of $109.00 per week from April 1, 1972, which was alleged to be a reasonable time for completion of repairs. She also sought exemplary damages of $5,000.00 for gross negligence and the further sum of $5,000.00 because of Wilmoth’s fraudulent representation that the engine and other parts would be the same style and model as in the car originally.

Twenty-three issues were submitted to the jury. The jury found that Holbrook, as agent for Dairyland, fraudulently and maliciously represented to appellee that the car could be restored so as to be in as good a condition as it was prior to the time it was stolen, and that appellee should recover the sum of $3,000.00 for exemplary damages from Dairyland. Judgment was entered against Dairyland whereby appellee recovered the sum of $3,800.00, found to be [856]*856the cash market value of the car at the time it was stolen, plus interest from March 1, 1972, to entry of judgment, and title to the car was placed in Dairyland. Appellee also recovered $3,000.00 exemplary damages from Dairyland. No recovery was allowed for loss of use.1 No appeal has been perfected from this part of the judgment.

The jury found that Ancira-Winton agreed to repair appellee’s car within a reasonable time, to-wit, June 1, 1972, so that it would be in as good a condition as it was prior to the theft.2 It was further found that the reasonable rental value of appellee’s car in the condition it was in prior to the theft was $100.00 per week. The jury also found that Wilmoth, as authorized by Ancira-Winton, fraudulently represented to appellee that her car could be repaired so as to be in as good condition as it was prior to the theft. It was further found that Wilmoth acted maliciously, and that appellee should recover $3,000.00 in exemplary damages. Judgment was entered against Ancira-Winton whereby appellee recovered the sum of $3,500.00 for loss of the use of the car from June 1, 1972, to entry of judgment on March 2, 1973, together with exemplary damages in the sum of $3,000.00.

Ancira-Winton, hereinafter sometimes referred to as appellant, complains of this judgment by five assignments of error which relate entirely to the question of damages. It is urged by two points that the trial court erred in granting judgment for actual damages of $3,500.00, in that ap-pellee suffered no damage as the result of appellant’s acts or omissions and that, in any event, the trial court used the wrong measure of damages.

The basis for the recovery of actual damages against appellant is the jury findings in response to Issues Nos. 8-10 [857]*857that appellant agreed to restore and repair the car in a reasonable time, to-wit, June 1, 1972, so that the car would be in as good a condition as it was prior to the time it was stolen. Recovery was then permitted from June 1st to date of judgment at the rate of $100.00 per week, which was found to be the reasonable rental value of the car in the condition it was in immediately prior to the theft. No complaint is made as to the probative force of appellee’s testimony that this was the lowest price quoted to her by several car rental agencies. Appellant urges, however, that appellee did not show any actual loss in that she did not rent a car and did not testify to any expense incurred by her during the period in question. She did not offer any evidence of how her car was used prior to the theft or her subsequent need for same other than to say that she borrowed her folks’ car for part of this period. Nevertheless, the record shows that she was deprived of the use of her car from June 1, 1972, the date when it should have been repaired, to August 28, 1972, when she determined the car to be a total loss. Her claim for damages is not limited to reimbursement of actual expenses; therefore, the absence of such expense is not fatal. Holmes v. Raffo, 60 Wash.2d 421, 374 P.2d 536 (1962); 25 C.J.S. Damages § 83c.

A more difficult question is presented by appellant’s point that the trial court did not use the proper measure of damages. It must be recognized at the outset that appellee was given judgment against Dairyland for the total loss of said car together with interest from date of theft. As a general rule, the allowance of interest is to compensate for the loss of use of the property to date of trial. Thus, where interest is recovered, there can not also be recovery for loss of use. Craddock v. Goodwin, 54 Tex. 578 (1881); Curtis v. Carey, 393 S.W.2d 185

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Bluebook (online)
507 S.W.2d 854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ancira-winton-chevrolet-inc-v-wilkerson-texapp-1973.