Benavides v. Cushman, Inc.

189 S.W.3d 875, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 716, 2006 WL 193901
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 2006
Docket01-04-00982-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 189 S.W.3d 875 (Benavides v. Cushman, Inc.) 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
Benavides v. Cushman, Inc., 189 S.W.3d 875, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 716, 2006 WL 193901 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

JANE BLAND, Justice.

In his appeal of this product liability case, Xavier Benavides asks that we reverse a judgment on a jury verdict in favor of appellee, Cushman, Inc. Benavides, a golf course groundskeeper, sued Cushman for injuries he sustained when a sand trap rake — a three-wheeled vehicle manufactured by Cushman — overturned while he was driving it. On appeal, Benavides contends the trial court erred in (1) excluding evidence of prior similar incidents, (2) excluding expert testimony regarding failure to warn, (3) admitting cumulative expert testimony, and (4) admitting an incident report written by Benavides’s supervisor at the golf course. We conclude that none of the trial court’s evidentiary rulings warrant reversal and therefore affirm.

I.FACTS

Benavides worked at the Battle Ground Golf Course in Deer Park, Texas. In June 2000, Benavides’s supervisor instructed him to groom the course’s sand traps with Cushman’s Groom Master sand trap rake. As Benavides exited a sand trap on the eleventh hole, he noticed a furrow in the sand. Although Benavides was heading downhill, he attempted to reverse course so as to re-enter the trap and smooth the furrow. As he began to turn, the left wheel of the Groom Master kicked upward. Benavides attempted to jump from the machine before it overturned but was unsuccessful. After the impact, he scooted out from underneath the Groom Master and walked to the twelfth hole to seek medical assistance. Benavides subsequently underwent two surgeries for injuries to his neck and lower back.

II.PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Benavides brought claims against Cush-man for design defect, manufacturing defect, and negligence. The case initially proceeded to trial in November 2003. Due to Cushman’s violation of a motion in li-mine, however, the trial court granted Be-navides’s motion for a new trial. The jury in the second trial found that the Groom Master did not have a design defect, that Cushman was not negligent, and that Be-navides was one hundred percent responsible for the accident. 1 This appeal followed.

III.ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

The admission and exclusion of evidence is committed to the trial court’s *879 sound discretion. City of Brownsville v. Alvarado, 897 S.W.2d 750, 753 (Tex.1995). To obtain reversal of a judgment based on error in the admission or exclusion of evidence, an appellant must show that the trial court’s ruling was erroneous and that the error was calculated to cause, and probably did cause, “rendition of an improper judgment.” Tex.R.App. P. 44.1(a)(1); Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Malone, 972 S.W.2d 35, 43 (Tex.1998). In making this determination, we review the entire record. Alvarado, 897 S.W.2d at 754. Reversible error does not usually occur in connection with evidentia-ry rulings unless the appellant can demonstrate that the whole case turns on the particular evidence admitted or excluded. Id. at 753-54; GT & MC, Inc. v. Tex. City Ref., Inc., 822 S.W.2d 252, 257 (Tex.App.Houston [1st Dist.] 1991, writ denied).

B. Prior Similar Incidents

In his first issue, Benavides contends the trial court abused its discretion in excluding evidence of earlier similar incidents. Specifically, Benavides proffered his expert witness, Dr. Robert Wright, to testify about five rollover accidents involving the Truckster, a different three-wheeled turf vehicle, also manufactured by Cushman. In the first trial, the court granted Cushman’s motion in limine prohibiting Benavides from introducing evidence regarding the Truckster rollover accidents. At the second trial, Benavides asked the trial court to revisit its ruling on the motion in limine, but it declined to do so. Benavides made an offer of proof through Dr. Wright, who testified that the prior Truckster incidents were similar because Cushman designed both vehicles for golf courses and the Truckster has a similarly high center of gravity when loaded. The trial court rejected Benavides’s offer of proof and refused to allow Dr. Wright to testify about previous Truckster rollover accidents during Benavides’s case-in-chief.

During Cushman’s case-in-chief, however, Benavides introduced this evidence. While cross-examining Cushman’s expert witness, Ralph Barnett, he covered the other incidents extensively. For example:

Q. [Benavides’s counsel]: Okay. Let me hand you what we’ve marked for identification as Plaintiffs Exhibit 241.
A. [Barnett]: Yes.
Q. This is a lawsuit by a gentleman named Jimmy T. Dickerson, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And in this incident on May 11, 1993, the Plaintiff Dickerson and Hutton were operating a Cushman three-wheeled turf Truckster, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And they were operating it on a slope at an army post, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And they were traveling about two miles per hour—
A. Yes.
Q. —along the right of way of—
A. Yes.
Q. —Road, correct?
[[Image here]]
Q. And then the subject vehicle hit a small indentation about the size of a pie plate and approximately one to two inches deep and it caused the truck to overturn, correct?
A. That’s what it says under Statement of Facts.
Q. Yes. And then the allegations that were made were that the three-wheel Truckster was unstable and unfit for its intended use, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And they also claim that it lacked rollover protection systems, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. And the rollover protection systems included the lack of a seat belt, correct?
*880 A. Yes, because if it’s a system, it will be also a lack of seat belt [sic].
Q. And that was May 11th, 1993, correct?
A. Yes.

Benavides’s counsel read petitions or incident reports discussing each of the other Truckster incidents to the jury and asked Barnett to comment. After this evidence, the trial court admitted as an exhibit a list of the dates of the Truckster rollover accidents and the names of the individuals involved. The exhibit also notes that, in two of the incidents, the involved driver died.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Roberto Rincon v. Sofia Berezkina
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
in the Interest of N.F., J.G., and O.M.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
in the Interest of A.M.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
in Re Commitment of Richard Dunsmore
562 S.W.3d 732 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Freeman v. Harleton Oil & Gas, Inc.
528 S.W.3d 708 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017)
in the Matter of M.R.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Andrew Whallon, Dahlia Garcia and Richard Grayshaw v. City of Houston
462 S.W.3d 146 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation v. Healey, L.P.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
189 S.W.3d 875, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 716, 2006 WL 193901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benavides-v-cushman-inc-texapp-2006.