Combined American Ins. Co. v. Morgan

214 S.W.2d 145, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1476
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 19, 1948
DocketNo. 4560.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 214 S.W.2d 145 (Combined American Ins. Co. v. Morgan) 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
Combined American Ins. Co. v. Morgan, 214 S.W.2d 145, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1476 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinions

PRICE, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the judgment of a district court of Dallas County, 44th Judicial District. Clarence Morgan, hereinafter called plaintiff, sued Combined American Insurance Company, hereinafter called defendant, to recover on an insurance policy indemnifying him for a period of 52 weeks for loss of time caused by disability resulting from sickness or disease. Trial was before the court with a jury, submission on special issues. Orí the verdict the court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff in the total sum of $1291.22, $765 on the policy, including interest in the sum of $34.42, plus 12% penalty in the sum of $91.80, plus $400 as attorney’s fees.

Plaintiff has filed a motion to dismiss the appfeal, claiming defendant failed to give notice of appeal and hence never perfected the appeal. Defendant in due time filed its motion for a new trial and later amended said motion. The amended motion for a new trial was never called to the Trial Court’s attention and no order was entered thereon. The effect of this was to overrule the motion by operation of law.. The contention of appellant is that the requirement of the notice of appeal on the docket or in the order overruling the motion for a new trial as provided by Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 353, does not apply to a motion for new trial overruled by operation of law. When tendered for filing to the Clerk of the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals he refused to file same on account of lack of notice to appellee, and referred the matter to the court. The appellant made due motion before the Court to require the Clerk to file the record and a hearing was had and the Clerk was ordered to file the same. The opinion of the court on this motion is found in Combined American Insurance Company v. Morgan, Tex. Civ. App., 207 S.W.2d 701. On the authority of that decision the motion to dismiss appeal is overruled. We agree with and concur in the decision of the Dallas Court of Appeals.

The material portions of the policy in issue were as follows:

“This policy provides indemnity for * * * loss of time caused by sickness due to disease * * * Sickness. Par. 2. Loss of time, caused by bodily sickness due solely to disease contracted and commencing after this policy has been maintained in force for not less than thirty con-1 secutive days from its date and only when such bodily sickness shall wholly, necessarily and continuously disable the insured [147]*147and prevent him from performing each and every duty pertaining to his usual business or occupation.” (The bodily sickness covered by this paragraph being hereafter referred to as “such sickness”) _ .

The policy provided for indemnity for loss of time caused by such sickness at the. rate of $15 per week for 52 weeks. The defendant paid one week’s indemnity.

The petition does not seek to recover for loss of time; it seeks to recover for a total disability resulting from bodily sickness or disease commencing on or about February 12, 1946, which wholly, necessarily and continuously disabled him from performing each and every duty pertaining to his uSual business and occupation; that stich disability had continued from February 12, 1946, and would continue to February 12, 1947. The petition was filed December 14, 1946. However, trial amendment was filed on June 17, 1947.

The appellee during the times pertinent was an employee of the City of Dallas in the Public Works Department, where he performed hard manual labor. His usual week’s work was 48 hours. The City paid twice monthly. The records of the city showed that plaintiff worked and was paid for during the year 1946 in hours, as follows :

February 63 and 51½ hours
March 48 and 104½ hours
April 87½ and 25½ hours
May 86 and 84½ hours
June 88 and 105½ hours
July 105 and 105½ hours
August 110 and 100 hours

The testimony shows that during this period he was carried for two weeks sick time and two weeks vacation.

Among the issues found by the jury were the following: First, that on February 1, 1946, plaintiff was sick due solely to disease contracted and commencing after the policy had been in effect more than thirty days; second, that such sickness wholly, necessarily and continuously disabled him in such a manner that he was not able to perform any duty pertaining to his usual business or occupation; third, that beginning February 1, 1946, he was so disabled by reason of such sipkness from February Í946 to June 18, 1947 (71 weeks) that during the said number of weeks he was totally incapacitated. The court defined “totally incapacitated” as follows:

“By the phrase ‘totally incapacitated’ as .used in the court’s charge means such disability as would prevent Clarence Morgan from performing any work he is by training or experience qualified to do, or such disability as that ordinary care in the preservation of his life or health would require that he desist from any kind of work.”

Defendant at the close of the testimony moved for an instructed verdict on the ground that the testimony shows plaintiff was not sick under the terms of the policy prescribed, but that on the contrary on the 12th day of February he returned to his work and worked regularly from that time or, as the witness testified, “off and on” up until September or later. This motion was refused: Defendant relies on one point for reversal, which is as follows:

“The error of the court in allowing judgment for the appellee for indemnity for the period from February, 1946, to September, 1946, during the major portion of which the plaintiff lost no time from his work.”

In its statement under this point of error appellant quotes from its motion for a new trial as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
214 S.W.2d 145, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/combined-american-ins-co-v-morgan-texapp-1948.