Day & Zimmermann, Inc. v. Strickland

483 S.W.2d 541, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2614
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 1972
Docket8042
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 483 S.W.2d 541 (Day & Zimmermann, Inc. v. Strickland) 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
Day & Zimmermann, Inc. v. Strickland, 483 S.W.2d 541, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2614 (Tex. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

*543 RAY, Justice.

This is an explosion case. Appellees Clifton S. Strickland and wife, Margaret Strickland (plaintiffs) brought suit against Phoenix Insurance Company under a homeowner’s insurance policy for claimed damages to appellees’ house resulting from an explosion on August 14, 1968. Phoenix Insurance Company (also an appellant) brought in Day & Zimmermann, Inc., (the principal appellant) as a third-party defendant, claiming that the damage, if any, to appellees’ house was the result of the negligence of Day & Zimmermann, Inc., in setting off excessive explosives at its plant.

The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the Stricklands against Phoenix Insurance Company and Day & Zimmermann, Inc., and in favor of Phoenix against Day & Zimmermann, Inc. The trial court entered its judgment accordingly, awarding the Stricklands damages in the sum of $7,300.-00.

Day & Zimmermann, Inc., presents thirty-three points of error for consideration by this court. Phoenix Insurance Company presents four points of error in the event that Day & Zimmermann, Inc., is successful in reversing the judgment of the trial court by pointing out that, if there is no evidence to support the finding of the jury or the evidence is insufficient to support the findings of the jury against Day & Zimmermann, Inc., then the same holding would apply as between the Stricklands and Phoenix Insurance Company.

The explosion pertinent to this case occurred at Lone Star Ordnance Plant on August 14, 1968. On this occasion, appel-lees lived approximately seven and one-half miles from the place of the explosion. Appellee Clifton Strickland testified that his house was in good condition prior to August 14th, 1968, and that he observed no cracks in the house when he was painting it shortly before the explosion. The detonation occurred on Wednesday night and the Strickland family left town on Friday, returning the following Monday. Cracks in the .outside wall were discovered on Monday when they were brought to Strickland’s attention by his neighbor, Henry Forbes. Appellee Strickland testified that the water from his well near his home was good prior to August 14, 1968, and that after that date the water was muddy. Several homeowners (some of whom were neighbors of the Stricklands) testified during the trial that prior to the explosion on the night of August 14 there were no cracks or damages to their homes but that afterwards they noticed cracks and damages. Some of these witnesses also testified that prior to August 14 the water in their wells was good, and after the explosion the water was muddy.

The testimony established that at least 3,-915 lbs. of “Comp B” explosive material had been placed on a “burning bed” and ignited prior to the explosion. Ordinarily, the material would burn, but on occasions it has been known to explode rather than burn. On this occasion, a portion of the material had burned and then the explosion occurred. The controversy revolved around the issue of whether or not the unexplained detonation of the explosive material caused the damage to the Strickland house.

Appellant Day & Zimmermann, Inc., undertook to prove that the detonation of the explosives on this particular occasion did not cause any damage to the Strickland house. In the course of making such proof, Day & Zimmermann offered its Exhibit No. 23, which was identified by Wayne O. Ursenbach (appellants’ expert witness) as being the original of the report he wrote summarizing the findings and test results of an ordnance team that had made tests at eighteen arsenals located over the United States. Included in the arsenals studied were Red River Arsenal and Lone Star Arsenal, located in Bowie County, Texas. One of the purposes of the study was to determine what effect, if any, the detonation of explosives at the various arsenals would have on the structures in the surrounding area, as well as its effect *544 on people living in the area near the ammunition plants. The group was endeavoring to determine the upper limits of quantities of explosives that could be destroyed, both from the standpoint of not damaging any structures or premises, and keeping the psychological disturbance of the people to a minimum. The tests in Bowie County were made in 1956 and in April 1957. Three members of the team, Donald T. Bailey, Robert R. Dolley and D. M. Jack-man, made the tests in Bowie County. Wayne O. Ursenbach was the project supervisor, but he was not in Bowie County when the tests were made. The three members of the team doing the testing would supply the information from the tests to Ursenbach, and at the end of the tests Ursenbach wrote a report summarizing the findings at Red River Arsenal and Lone Star Arsenal, which was offered as Day & Zimmermann, Inc.’s, Exhibit No. 23. The report also included a general discussion of the effect of air blasts and ground shock as determined by the investigations at all of the eighteen arsenals. Also included in the report was an analysis of the information obtained from the other sixteen arsenals. The tests made by the investigating team were made at the direction of Mr. Ursenbach from his office in Salt Lake City, Utah. When Exhibit 23 was offered by Day & Zimmermann as evidence under the provisions of Article 3737e, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Rev.Civ.Stats., the court refused to admit the same in evidence after objection by appellees. Appellant Day & Zimmermann, Inc., complains of the trial court’s ruling to the introduction of its Exhibit 23 as its first point of error.

This case presents a narrow issue of admissibility of evidence under Article 3737e (1951) familiarly referred to as the “business records exception” to the hearsay rule. A thorough search of the cases does not reveal one which has decided the exact question presented here. The' following elements were presented to the trial court for its consideration in admitting Exhibit 23:

1. The original report compiled by Wayne O. Ursenbach;
2. The testimony of Ursenbach that he. prepared the report;
3. The testimony of Donald T. Bailey that he helped conduct some of the tests and forwarded the results of the tests to Ursenbach to be included in the report;
4. The tests were made in 1956 and 1957;
5. The report bears the date of December 30, 1957;
6. The report was prepared by the Explosives Research Group at the University of Utah at the request of the Chief of Ordnance of the U. S. Army;
7. The report was admittedly a sum-marization of the data or a reduction of the data furnished to Ursenbach by the survey team in the field.

The following elements of evidence and testimony were absent:

1. The original tapes and records which were used in preparing the report (Exhibit 23).

We have concluded that third-party defendant’s Exhibit No. 23 was not admissible in evidence and that the trial court properly excluded it for the-reason that it is not a memorandum or record of an act, event or condition. The report itself is hearsay, spawned and based upon hearsay.

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Bluebook (online)
483 S.W.2d 541, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/day-zimmermann-inc-v-strickland-texapp-1972.