Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Orr

210 S.W.2d 863, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1183
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 5, 1948
DocketNo. 5861.
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 210 S.W.2d 863 (Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Orr) 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
Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Orr, 210 S.W.2d 863, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1183 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

PITTS, Chief Justice.

Appellee, Leona B. Orr, sued appellant, Dallas Railway & Terminal Company, for damages as a result of personal injuries sustained by her at a street intersection in Dallas by reason of a collision on July 25, 1943, between appellant’s bus and an automobile owned and driven by Lee H. Williams in which automobile appellee was riding at the time. The case was tried to a jury on twenty-nine special issues. As a result of the verdict judgment was rendered for appellee in the sum of $10,000 from, which appellant has perfected its appeal.

The jury exonerated appellee and Lee H. Williams of any and all charges of negligence and contributory negligence, found that the collision was not an unavoidable accident but that appellee’s damages resulted from and were proximately caused by various acts of negligence of appellant’s driver of the bus.

Appellant charges that the trial court erred because of its refusal to send two pictures of the street intersection, which had been admitted in evidence, into the jury room during its deliberation. The record reveals that while the court bailiff was directing the jury into the jury room after the close of the argument, appellant’s counsel requested the trial court, outside of the presence and hearing of the jury, to send the pictures to the jury room, to which request appellee’s counsel objected and the trial court said the pictures would be sent to the jury room if the jury requested them. Tire jury did not request them and they were never sent to the jury room.

It has been held that photographs and pictures showing conditions and the physical facts as they actually existed at a street intersection at the time of a collision such as this, are admissible in evidence and may be taken by the jury to the jury room to be observed by the jury during its deliberation, particularly if and when the photographs and pictures have some bearing on the controversial issues and will help the jury determine such issues. The record reveals that appellee and Lee H. Williams were travelling north on Good Street and appellant’s bus was travel-ling west on San Jacinto Street and the collision occurred at the point of their intersection. The two original pictures in question are before us marked “Defendant’s Exhibits 4 and 5.” One of them was taken on Good Street about twenty-five feet south of the street intersection where the collision occurred and the other one was taken on Good Street about one hundred feet south of the said intersection. Both of them clearly show the intersection *865 and Good Street for some distance but they show only a few feet of San Jacinto Street on each side of the intersection. The record reveals that the pictures do not reflect the physical conditions of the intersection as they existed at the time of the collision. Both pictures show a large "stop” sign on top of a post that appears to be some six feet high placed on the right-hand side of Good Street just south of the street intersection, thus making Good Street appear to be what is commonly known as a “stop street” at the intersection which would require people travelling north on Good Street, as appellee and Lee Williams were travelling on this occasion, to stop and look for traffic on San Jacinto Street where they cross. The record reveals and appellant’s counsel admitted in open court when the pictures were offered in evidence over appellee’s objections that the stop sign' had been placed there since the collision. It was admitted by all parties that the street intersection was a hazardous intersection due to buildings, which are shown in the pictures. It is our opinion that the pictures would not have helped the jury to determine any controversial issues but, on the contrary, they were merely cumulative disclosures corroborating other evidence heard. Because they reflected a big stop sign at the street intersection on the street travelled by appellee and her driver, Williams, that was not there at the time of the collision, it might have resulted in prejudicial injury to appellee if the pictures had been sent to the jury room where the jury could inspect and discuss the views shown in the pictures during their deliberation. While appellant admitted in open court that the stop sign had been placed there since the collision, jurors could not look at either picture without seeing the stop sign and its very presence appearing in the pictures admitted in evidence may have easily given the jury the impression that it was the duty of the driver, Williams, to have stopped at the street intersection and yielded the right of way to appellant’s bus driver. In view of the record it is our opinion that no injury to appellant has been shown and that the trial court did not commit any reversible error, if in fact any error at all, in its refusal to grant the request of appellant’s counsel to send the pictures to the jury room since the record reveals that the jurors examined the pictures while in the jury box soon after they were introduced and since they did not call for them during their deliberation.

Appellant next assails the trial court’s judgment because of its refusal to exclude from the jury’s consideration any of appellee’s physical disabilities existing prior to the accident in question except insofar as such disabilities were aggravated by the accident.

The record reveals that appellee received the injuries on July 25, 1943, but the case was not tried until May 15, 1947; that appellee was forty years old ■ at the time of the trial and had been holding a position at the time she received the injuries that paid her $20 per week and that she lived with her parents and helped care for them ; that she had been married but was divorced in 1934, since which time she had been single; that as a result of the collision she received internal injuries which caused pain and which caused her to spit up blood and pass blood in her urine; that her right arm and shoulder were injured and her left leg was bruised; that her back was bruised; that her womb was jarred and pulled out of place; and that all of said injuries made her nervous and caused her much pain. The record further reveals that after her injuries she was confined to her bed and was helpless for three weeks and was in bed most of the time for three months and had not recovered from such injuries four years later at the time of the trial. Dr. E. B. Burton was called soon after her injuries and treated her continuously as such was needed and was still treating her at the time of the trial. He testified that her physical disabilities were due to the injuries and not to natural causes. He further testified that ordinary ailments could sometimes lead to complications that may cause chronic infirmities. The record further reveals that after about five months appellee returned to her work before she was able to work and she found it necessary to give up that job and to find another that would permit her to work sitting down and *866 that she was still unable to do much work of any kind at the time of the trial. The evidence revealed that prior to her injuries appellee had been subject to colds, influenza, sinus trouble and other ordinary common ailments; that she had some dental work done and had a miscarriage some years previously during her married life. But the evidence shows that her health was generally good and that she was not suffering from any infirmities or chronic troubles prior to her injuries.

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Bluebook (online)
210 S.W.2d 863, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-railway-terminal-co-v-orr-texapp-1948.