City of Houston v. Watson

376 S.W.2d 23, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 1966
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 13, 1964
Docket14290
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 376 S.W.2d 23 (City of Houston v. Watson) 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
City of Houston v. Watson, 376 S.W.2d 23, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 1966 (Tex. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

WERLEIN, Justice.

This suit was brought by Jim C. Watson, Jr., a minor, by and through his duly appointed guardian ad litem, and Jim C. Watson, Sr., father of said minor, to recover damages for severe personal injuries sustained by said minor on April 20, 1959, when the motor scooter he was riding in the 1200 block of Cheshire Street in the City of Houston struck a hole in the street, went out of control, fell to its side and caught fire. Pursuant to the verdict of the jury, which included findings that the occurrence was proximately caused by the City’s failure to make proper inspection of the location in question, judgment was rendered in favor of the minor plaintiff and his father for their respective damages.

Appellant has grouped in its brief its points 1 through 27, inclusive, 32 through 36, inclusive, 40, and 44 through 47, inclu *27 ■sive. These points are all interrelated and generally have to do with the error of the court in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment in its favor based upon the jury’s -answer to Special Issue No. 1, that the City was not negligent in failing to repair the Tiole in question prior to April 20, 1959, when the injury occurred. Appellant also ■complains that the court erred in overruling its motion to set aside the answers of the jury to Special Issues Nos. 3 and 4, • and to enter judgment for the defendant •after setting aside the same, because Spe■cial Issue No. 3 is not a controlling or ulti-mate issue and cannot be the basis of a valid judgment against the City, since there is no allegation whatever in appellees’ claim filed with the City alleging that it was at fault for failing to make an inspection of ■the street and the hole that had been repaired, and further because the jury had already, in answer to Special Issue No. 1, found that the City had repaired the hole in question prior to the date of the minor’s injury. Appellant further asserts that the •court erred in refusing to set aside said Special Issues Nos. 3 and 4 because there ■is no evidence to support the same and in■sufficient evidence, and no pleading to raise ■such issues, and also because the court •erred in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto. It is ■appellant’s contention that it had no actual •or constructive notice of any condition that would put upon the City the duty to make ■an inspection inquired about in Special Issue No. 3, and that the court erred in refusing to set aside the answer to Special Issue No. 4 because there is no causal connection between the failure to inspect inquired about in Special Issue No. 3 and the occurrence in question.

A brief summary of the evidence is necessary to a consideration of the foregoing points. The evidence shows that about dusk •on the evening of the accident, said minor, then 14 years of age, was riding the motor ■scooter in an easterly direction on Cheshire Street, traveling in a straight line along and over said street, and on the right side thereof, with his headlight burning, and at a speed variously estimated at 15 to 25 miles per hour. The scooter hit a hole in the street which was located near and in front of the premises at 1235 Cheshire Street, variously estimated to be of depth approximately 3 inches to 6 to 8 inches, and width ranging from 3 to 5 feet across the street and from 1 yi to several feet parallel thereto. Upon hitting the hole the scooter got out of control, finally fell on its right side, skidded some distance and burst into flames, with young Watson pinned underneath.

There is evidence that the hole was reported to the City approximately two months before the accident and that about one month before the accident the hole was repaired by the City. It is undisputed that Cheshire Street is paved with concrete and that the City employees in repairing the hole did not fill it with concrete but with a cold asphalt mix. Mr. Sweeton, one of the City employees, testified that he reported to his foreman, Mr. Duncan, that the hole was in a concrete street so that the foreman could notify the permanent paving division of the City and it could come out and repair the hole with concrete. He agreed that, when a temporary repair was made in a concrete street with asphalt mix, as was done, he expected the permanent paving division of the City to follow with the necessary concrete repair.

Mr. Duncan, Superintendent of Street Maintenance, Division No. 5, which included the location in question, testified in substance that he did not see the hole until more than a month following the accident; that the early temporary repair was not done in the manner in which the hole was ultimately to be repaired; that the permanent paving department was expected to follow with the necessary concrete repairs before the hole became in disrepair again; and that a hole in a concrete street repaired with an asphalt mix will not stay repaired as long as one repaired with concrete. With respect to the asphalt mix repair made about a month before the accident, he testified *28 that a lady reported a hole, and that on the same evening three of his men made an emergency repair of the hole that was there, and that he reported the hole to the paving division on the following morning.

The evidence shows that the temporary repair of the hole with cold asphalt mix did not hold up, but that it gradually broke down, washed out and disintegrated, so that by the time of the accident the hole was again in about the same condition it was in at the time the temporary, emergency repair was made. Mr. Duncan, who had the original temporary repair made, testified that he received no notice with respect to the hole after making the temporary repair, but possibly some other person in his division could have received a complaint.

Witness Bommarito, who first reported the hole about a month before the temporary repair was made, testified unequivocally that after the temporary repair broke down, he again reported the hole to the City about a week before the accident. The temporary repairs lasted two weeks at the most, according to this witness, after which the hole became virtually in the same condition it was before. We have not undertaken to summarize all the testimony in the statement of facts which consists of nearly 1000 pages, although we have considered all of the evidence adduced at the trial.

To Special Issue No. 1, the jury found that before April 20, 1959, the City did not fail to repair the hole in such manner as the same would have been repaired by a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care under the same or similar circumstances. There is no evidence of any repair being made before April 20, 1959, the date of the accident, other than the temporary emergency repair hereinabove discussed. It is manifest, therefore, that the jury in answering Special Issue No. 1 found merely that the City was not negligent in making the temporary repair as was done under the circumstances existing at such time. The record is replete with evidence showing that such temporary repair broke down and that at the time of the accident the hole had virtually resumed its-former condition.

Appellees rely upon the jury’s affirmative-findings to Special Issues Nos. 3 and 4,. reading:

SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 3
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that before April 20, 1959 and after undertaking to repair the location in question, the Defendant,.

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376 S.W.2d 23, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 1966, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-houston-v-watson-texapp-1964.