Carrico v. Busby

325 S.W.2d 413, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2495
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 4, 1959
Docket13418
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 325 S.W.2d 413 (Carrico v. Busby) 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
Carrico v. Busby, 325 S.W.2d 413, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2495 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

WERLEIN, Justice.

This suit was brought by S. A. Carrico (who died before trial of the case) and wife, Elsie Lee Carrico, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by appellant Mrs. Carrico when the automobile in which she was riding, driven by one Miss Bessie Beaulieu, was struck in the rear by a car driven by appellee, Leonard Clyde Busby. The Beaulieu car, which had been standing for a few seconds in line behind several other cars that were stopped on Pease Avenue between La Branch and Austin Streets in obedience to a traffic light, was struck with sufficient violence to cause its rear bumper to hook over the front bumper guard of the Busby car and pull it off. The only damage to the Beaulieu car was a loose screw in the rear bumper.

The case was tried to a jury and the jury found in answer to Special Issues 1 to 7, inclusive, on negligence and proximate cause, that appellee did not fail to keep a proper lookout; that Busby was not following too close to the Beaulieu car; that Busby did not fail to make timely application of his brakes; that the collision was the result of an unavoidable accident. The jury answered “None” to Issues 8, 9 and 10, thereby finding: (1) that appellant sustained no expense for medical bills as a result of the collision, (2) no medical bills would be incurred in the future as a result thereof, and (3) that the amount of money that would reasonably compensate appellant for such injuries and damages as were caused by reason of the accident, including physical pain and mental anguish both past and future, lost earnings, and loss of earning capacity in the future, was “None.”

In overruling appellant’s motion for new trial, the Trial Court entered an order setting aside the jury’s findings to Special Issues Nos. 1 through 7 because against the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence, but refused to set aside the jury’s findings as to damages.

Appellant’s first nine Points of Error assert that the Trial Court erred in failing to grant a new trial for the reason there is no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the jury’s answers to Special Issues 8, 9 and 10, and because the answers thereto are so against the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly wrong. In her 10th, 11th and 12th Points, which we do not consider too general and indefinite for our consideration, appellant makes the same contentions with respect to the jury’s answers to all the Issues.

Appellee asserts that the Trial Court’s action in setting aside the jury’s answers to Issues 1 through 7 was a nullity because appellant did not file a motion to disregard such findings as required by Rule 301, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. In her motion for new trial, appellant moved the Court to set aside the verdict and judgment rendered against her and grant a new trial, alleging that the Court erred .in accepting the verdict and entering judgment based upon the jury’s answers to Issues 1, 3, 5 and 7, and also 8, 9 and 10, since there was no evidence or insufficient evidence to support such answers, and the same were against the overwhelming weight and pre *415 ponderance of the evidence. The trial judge ordered a hearing upon such motion and the order overruling such motion shows that both parties announced ready at the hearing.

We think that appellant’s motion substantially complied with Rule 301. The motion pointed out the error of the Court in accepting the answers to the various Issues and also the reasons why the same should be set aside. Hines v. Parks, Tex.Com.App., 128 Tex. 289, 96 S.W.2d 970. Appellant’s motion was tantamount to moving the Court to disregard the jury’s findings on all the Issues. Appellee made no objection to the form in which the Trial Court’s jurisdiction was invoked. Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Heath, Tex.Civ.App., 197 S.W.2d 130, ref. n. r. e.; McDonald, Vol. 4 Texas Civil Practice, p. 1416. Furthermore, appellee has no cross-assignment questioning or attacking the Trial Court’s action in setting aside Issues 1 through 7.

Whether or not we are wrong in the foregoing conclusions, we are of the opinion, after carefully considering all the evidence, that the findings of the jury to Special Issues Nos. 1 through 7 are so against the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly wrong and unjust, and the same should be set aside. King v. King, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660. Indeed, we are inclined to the view that there is no evidence in the record that warranted submission of such Issues. Appellee drove his car into the rear of the Beaulieu car in broad daylight. There is nothing to account for the collision other than the negligence of appellee in the particulars submitted in said Issues. Appellee admitted that the accident would not have happened had he been watching a little closer, and the undisputed evidence shows he followed the Beaulieu car too closely and failed to make timely application of his brakes. Lubbock Bus Co. v. Pearson, Tex.Civ.App., 266 S.W.2d 439, ref., n. r. e.; Sullins v. Pace, Tex.Civ.App., 208 S.W.2d 583; Hoey v. Solt, Tex.Civ.App., 236 S.W.2d 244; Sutherland v. Cotter, Tex.Civ.App., 226 S.W.2d 476.

In order to determine whether the Trial Court erred in refusing to set aside the jury’s findings to Special Issues Nos. 8, 9 and 10 and to grant a new trial, it is necessary to review all of the evidence.

Appellant testified that she was sitting on the back seat of the Beaulieu car. They came to an ordinary stop behind cars that had stopped in their lane of traffic. She heard an awful crash and the next thing she knew her head was up just about as far as it could get, and she did not know what happened then until after they were pulled into the first lane at the curb, where they remained parked about five minutes or so after the Busby car left. She had a good bit of pain in her throat and shoulder at the scene of the accident, and had a terrible headache the rest of the day. She stayed on the job at Foley’s that day but took Bufferin tablets, and lay down three times during the day. When she went home that night she rubbed turpentine and grease on her neck and throat, and put a big plaster on her shoulder and back and applied a heating pad. When she got up in the morning she had terrible pains in her throat, shoulder, neck and back. Her daughter took her down to Dr. Leiser’s office about 9 o’clock in the morning, and he checked her over and X-rayed her shoulders, head, back and chest, and gave her some prescriptions. She saw him three or four times, and he referred her to Dr. Hudgins, an orthopedic doctor, whom she saw several times and who took X-rays of her twice. She could not move her head and was having pain in her left shoulder and the lower part of her back, jaw and neck. She later saw Dr. Hinds, a dental surgeon, two or three times and also Dr. Karney. They made a headgear for her which she wore at home for some three or four months. She had never had anything wrong with her before. Since the accident, *416

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Bluebook (online)
325 S.W.2d 413, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carrico-v-busby-texapp-1959.