Berwald v. Turner

52 S.W.2d 112, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 695
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 30, 1932
DocketNo. 2676.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 52 S.W.2d 112 (Berwald v. Turner) 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
Berwald v. Turner, 52 S.W.2d 112, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 695 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

PELPHREY, C. J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of appellees for the sum of $3,000 impersonal injuries alleged to have been sustained by Mrs. Marguerite Turner from a fall on the floor of the store of appellants in Dallas, Tex. The facts alleged are that Mrs. Turner went into the store of appellants, took an elevator run by appellants for the purpose of going to a beauty parlor located on the second floor, and that, when she alighted therefrom, slipped upon a spot then being cleaned by appellants’ servant, and was injured.

The case was submitted to a jury, which found: (1) That Mrs. Turner sustained a fall at the time and place alleged; (2) that she sustained .personal injuries; (3) that the injuries were the proximate result of the fall; (4) that appellants caused or permitted their employee to put a wet substance on the floor at the time and place in question, causing it to become wet and slick, and unsafe for Mrs. Turner to walk upon; (5) that they were negligent in so doing and did not exercise ordinary care to warn her of the unsafe condition of the floor; and (6) that $3,000 would reasonably compensate her for her physical and mental suffering, past’ and future, and her diminished capacity to earn money, past and future.

The jury further found that Mrs. Turner did not see the’ condition of the floor before walking on it; that such condition was in open view and visible to her, but that her failure to see such condition was not negligence ; that she saw that the portion of the floor on which she fell was being mopped, but that her act in walking on the floor that she saw was being mopped, was not negligence; that Mrs. Turner’s fall was not the result of an unavoidable accident; that Mrs. Turner was not guilty of negligence in the manner in which she walked or stepped after she got on the wet portion of the floor; that the boy mopping the floor failed to warn her in time for her, by the use of ordinary care, to have avoided slipping and falling.

Appellants contend that the trial court should have instructed the jury to return a verdict in their favor and its failure to do so is made the basis of their first four propositions. They assert ' -that the evidence showing that the servant was engaged in mopping the floor at the time and place where Mrs. Turner fell, his work was necessarily observable to any one using the floor, and, the condition of the floor where she fell being in open view and visible to her, the servant, as a matter of law, was not negligent in doing the work o.r in failing to tell her he was doing it, but had a right to expect her to use ordinary care in walking upon the floor; * that, there being no proof that the floor was being mopped in a negligent or unusual manner, and it appearing conclusively that Mrs. Turner saw, o.r should have seen, the condition of the floor and that the servant was engaged in mopping it before she fell, the fall was proximately caused by her own negligence, and therefore she should not recover; and it appearing that the condition of her hand at the time of trial not having resulted until some time after the fall and there being no satisfactory proof that such condition resulted from the fall, her demand on account thereof was not established.

Mrs. Turner’s testimony relative to the questions, is:

“Q. Do you know Mr. Berwald over there —did you know them at the store here? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Anything unusual — were you ever in that store? A. Yes, sir.
*113 “Q. Any time you were m there has anything unusual happened to you? A. Tes, I -fell.
“Q. When was that, if you remember? A. The 31st of Hay, 1929. * * *
“Q. Do you remember what time of day that was, Mrs. Turner? A. It was sometime after nine o’clock.
“Q. What was your occasion t,o visit in the store? A. I went in there to get my hair cut.
“Q. What kind of business did they have there? A. They had piece goods downstairs and a beauty parlor upstairs. * * *
“Q. Well, how did you get from one floor to the other? A. By elevator. * * *
“Q. After you went in you got on the elevator. Did you tell him where you wanted to go, or is that as far as the elevator went? A. No sir, I told him where I wanted to go.
“Q. Now when you stopped up there was the door open or did they have to open the door? A. They had to open the door, I think.
“Q. Then what happened? A. Well, the floor wás wet and I stepped 'off and fell.
“Q. Did you have any notice that the floor was wet and slippery? A. No, sir.
“Q. Did the elevator hoy say anything to you? A. No, sir.
“Q. Just, opened the door and let you out? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And you stepped out? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And the elevator went on its journey? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Or do you know? A. I think it went on.
“Q. Now explain what part of the furniture and your anatomy you fell on. A. Well, I just stepped off and fell backwards.
“Q. Where did your feet go? A. Went straight up — just right out.
“Q. Now what part of your anatomy— what part — what did you strike? A. Well, I tried to catch with my left hand and fell and hit my' head and I just caught mostly ■though on my left hand.
“Q. Where did you strike your head, if you remember? A. I don’t remember, just backwards on the floor.
“Q. Did you fall easy or hard? A. I fell hard. * * *
“Q. Now at that time was there anything the matter with you, physically? A. No, sir.
“Q. Was anything the matter with that left hand there? A. No, sir.
“Q. Anything the matter with your nerves and nervous system at that time? ⅜ * * A. No, sir. * * *
“Q. I will ask you whether or not there is any difference in the feeling of your hand? A. Yes, sir, there is.
Q. What as the difference? A. Well, this hand feels — I don’t know — just kind of dead like. * * *
“Q. Now gentlemen, feel of that left hand there and determine — All right now, since the date of the injury there, was anything the matter at all with your fingers before you were hurt there that day? A. No, sir.
“Q. Was there any stiffness there? A. No, sir.
“Q. Now since that time have you been able to use it? A. No, sir. * * *
“Q. Now you fell up there, about what area there was wet, if you remember? A. Well, I don’t know but it was all in front of the elevator.
“Q. Now with reference to the floor where you got out, where was that wet place? A. It was all around in front of it.
“Q.

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Bluebook (online)
52 S.W.2d 112, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berwald-v-turner-texapp-1932.