Brookshire Bros., Inc. v. Wagnon

979 S.W.2d 343, 1998 WL 648111
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 30, 1998
Docket12-97-00179-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 979 S.W.2d 343 (Brookshire Bros., Inc. v. Wagnon) 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
Brookshire Bros., Inc. v. Wagnon, 979 S.W.2d 343, 1998 WL 648111 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

HOLCOMB, Justice.

Brookshire Brothers, Inc. (“Brookshire”) files this appeal complaining of a judgment rendered for Talbert Wagnon (“Wagnon”). This worker’s compensation nonsubscriber case was tried to a jury on two occasions. The first verdict was for Brookshire on a finding of no negligence. The trial court granted Wagnon’s motion for new trial, and the second jury found for Wagnon and awarded him $750,000 .00 in damages. Brookshire files ten points of error. We will affirm.

Brookshire employed Wagnon as a butcher at its Carthage, Texas store. On the day of the injury, a delivery truck arrived with merchandise for the store. After the truck left, Wagnon and two other employees unloaded the pallets. The truck later returned with another pallet containing meat for the meat market. Wagnon unloaded the meat from this pallet by himself. The injury to his back occurred when he lifted a heavy box of meat (approximately 80 pounds), which was located on the pallet close to the floor, then twisted his body to place it on the top shelf of a cart. This cart was used to haul the meat to the cooler. Wagnon claimed at trial that Brook-shire did not provide him with a safe workplace, since the boxes he was required to lift were too heavy to be lifted without help. He also maintained that Brookshire was aware of the dangers involved, since other workers had been similarly injured.

In its first point of error, Brookshire complains that the trial court erred in granting Wagnon’s motion for new trial. It is well-settled Texas law, however, that an order granting a timely-filed motion for new trial is not subject to review on appeal. Hayden v. American Honda Motor Co., 835 S.W.2d 652, 654 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1992, no writ). We overrule Brookshire’s first point of error.

In its second point of error, Brookshire asserts that the trial court erred in denying its requested special issue on comparative causation. It cites Texas Workers’ Compensation Comm’n. v. Garcia, 893 S.W.2d 504, 521 (Tex.1995) for the proposition that an injured employee in a nonsubseriber case must prove that he or she was not more than 50% negligent in causing the injury. We disagree that Garcia is determinative of this issue, however, because the dispute before the Supreme Court of Texas was the constitutionality of the Worker’s Compensation Act. The language was not essential to the outcome of the case, nor did comparative negligence constitute even a minor issue in that case. The brief statement that an employee cannot recover if he is more than 50% negligent was clearly dicta and noncontroll-ing.

In an action against a nonsubscri-ber, it is not a defense 1) that the employee was guilty of contributory negligence; 2) that the employee assumed the risk of injury or death; or 3) that the injury or death was caused by the negligence of a fellow employee. Tex.Lab.Code Ann. § 406.033 (Vernon 1996). The.employer may only defend the action on the ground that the injury was caused by an act of the employee intended to bring about the injury or while the employee was in a state of intoxication. Id. In other words, the employer’s only defense may be that it was not negligent in causing the injury or that its employee was the sole proximate cause of the injury. Holiday Hills Retirement and Nursing Center, Inc. v. Yeldell, 686 S.W.2d 770, 775 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1985), rev’d on other grounds, 701 S.W.2d 243 (Tex.1985). The Worker’s Compensation Act clearly seeks to exclude from jury consideration any issue submitting an employee’s fault, negligence, or responsibility, other than sole proximate cause. We hold that in an employee’s suit against a nonsubscribing employer, comparative negligence is not applicable and should not be submitted to the jury. See Id. We overrule point of error two.

*348 In its third point of error, Brookshire argues that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of unrelated prior acts to establish prior knowledge or foreseeability. At trial, Robert Jones (“Jones”), Charlotte Abernathy (“Abernathy”) and Patricia Moore (“Moore”) all testified regarding their claims of injuries and accidents on the job. In addition, Wag-non’s expert testified concerning Jones, Abernathy and Moore’s injuries as a prelude to his opinion that Brookshire was negligent when Wagnon was injured. Brookshire maintains that none of the injuries occurred in substantially similar circumstances as Wagnon’s, and were therefore irrelevant. In addition, the injuries occurred prior to 1990 when Brookshire became a nonsubscriber and instituted a new training and safety program.

Relevant evidence is generally admissible. Tex.R.Civ.Evid. 402. The relevance, and therefore the admissibility, of other accidents or similar events is determined by: 1) a predicate of “similar” or “reasonably similar” conditions; 2) connection of the conditions in some “special way”; and 3) that the incidents occurred by means of the same instrumentality. Winn-Dixie Texas, Inc. v. Buck, 719 S.W.2d 251, 254 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1986, no writ), overruled on other grounds, Greenhalgh v. Service Lloyds Ins. Co., 787 S.W.2d 938, 940 (Tex.1990). Admitting evidence is a matter within the discretion of the trial court. Tracy v. Annie’s Attic, Inc., 840 S.W.2d 527, 531 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1992, writ denied).

In the instant ease, Wagnon was injured in the meat market when he lifted a heavy box of meat above his head and twisted his body to place the box on the unicart. Abernathy hurt herself when she lifted a heavy tray of meat and twisted her body in the process of setting it down. Jones hurt himself when he was required to pick up from the floor a plastic tub filled with meat, lift it up to his chest, push it away from his body and dump the meat upside down into a grinder. He had to twist his body in the process of lifting and dumping. Because the prior injuries of these other employees involved lifting heavy objects while incorporating a twisting motion, and there was no indication that any other condition was implicated in causing the injuries, the Winn-Dixie predicate was satisfied. In addition, these injuries were relevant to the issue of foreseeability, an element of negligence. Applying Rules 401 and 402 of the Rules of Civil Evidence, the court could have concluded that the prior injuries were relevant to show that Brookshire, with knowledge of the prior similar injuries, could have foreseen that failure to provide necessary equipment or failure to require team lifting might have contributed to Wagnon’s injury. Consequently, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of these injuries.

In regards to Moore, her testimony that she had been hurt while working for Brookshire came in without objection. She was then asked by Brookshire about going back to work after her injury. When Wag-non finally asked Moore how she was hurt, Brookshire objected.

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Bluebook (online)
979 S.W.2d 343, 1998 WL 648111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brookshire-bros-inc-v-wagnon-texapp-1998.