Dorsey v. Younger Bros., Inc.

216 S.W.2d 294, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 927
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 16, 1948
DocketNo. 12036.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 216 S.W.2d 294 (Dorsey v. Younger Bros., Inc.) 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
Dorsey v. Younger Bros., Inc., 216 S.W.2d 294, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 927 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment of the 113th District Court of Harris County, entered directly and solely upon a jury’s verdict in response to some 47 special-issues submitted, denying the appellant any recovery in his suit against the appellees, Younger Bros., Inc., and its driver, H. L. Hiebert, individually, for damages as resulting from personal injuries alleged to have been negligently inflicted upon him by a collision on the Houston-Alvin highway on the night of January 27, 1947, between appellant’s car, driven by himself, and the appéllee-Company’s 15-ton, 10-wheel auto-car truck, being driven by the appellee-Hiebert, the corporation’s servant and employee.

The jury, in answering special-inquiries 47-A and B, had found that appellant had suffered, from the collision some $7,500 in damages at the time of the trial, and likewise another $7,500 as the cash-value at that date of the physical and mental pain he would probably further suffer in the future; but the trial court held such findings nullified by other findings in favor of the appellees, on certain special defensive-issues they had interposed.

*296 Appellant’s appeal is based upon three points-of-error, which may — substantially in his own language — be summarized as follows:

First: The error of the court in overruling appellant’s motion, for mistrial.

Second: The verdict is contrary to the evidence, in that the undisputed evidence showed that plaintiff was not in any regard contributorily negligent, that plaintiff did not fail to have his automobile under proper control at and immediately prior to the collision, and that the defendants were primarily negligent, proximately causing the accident.

Third: The misconduct of the jury, in that, upon their deliberation in reaching their verdict they discussed, considered and were influenced by: (1) A consequent belief that there existed a statutory-law, or a city-ordinance, governing the ' speed of vehicles under signal-lights at highway intersections, requiring operators of motor-vehicles to slow down their speed to not more than ten miles per hour, which such belief was engendered by the discussion of one of the jurors, of his own personal knowledge, of such “laws and city ordinances,” when the court had not charged upon the matter in any way;

(2) The subject of the plaintiff’s having already been indemnified to some extent by an insurance-policy carried by him upon his person and property, although there was no evidence in the trial to that effect, and no insurance-company was a party to this suit;

(3) The unsworn expert evidence of a fellow-juror as to the ability of a driver of any truck of the size and design of that being operated by the defendants to- negotiate a turn to the left, or right, said juror basing such statements purely upon its own personal and individual experience with trucks; and

(4) By the unsworn-testimony of one of said jurors concerning the nature, extent, and suffering connected with the mending of broken-bones as a result of injury, and the exhibition by one of the said jurors of his own injured-arm to other members of the jury,- with statements concerning the effects thereof.

It is held that none of these presentments point out reversible error.

In the first place, as is readily inferable from its 'length, the trial court literally cross-examined the jury back and forth over the whole gamut of the question-s-of-fact deemed by it to have constituted the controlling questions-of-fact raised by the pleadings and the evidence.

When reference 'under the first point is made to the record, it is found that appellant’s “motion for mistrial” was based upon the ground of an “irreconcilable conflict between the jury’s -findings as to control, speed, and lookout,” and not that the submission of the one issue of “control” rendered improper or immaterial that of the other two as to speed and lookout.

Accordingly, he cannot be heard on appeal to rely upon the claim now presented for the first time that the submission of the one issue of “control” rendered improper or immaterial the other ones. In other words, if there was an error in this re-spect, it was waived, since the -trial court had no opportunity, by the failure' to present such an objection there, to correct it. Rule 374, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; Daniel v. Fry, Tex.Civ.App., 195 S.W.2d 155 (error ref., n.r.e.).

At much length, however, the appellant’s brief contends that the issue of “control,” as given by the court, was the ultimate issue-of-fact in the cause, and that the issues of “speed” and “lookout” were merely subsidiary and evidentiary, hence as such should not have been submitted below, and should now be disregarded,upon appeal

This very earnest and extended contention presented by him here — that such a conflict did exist between the different findings on the issues of control, speed, and lookout, to the extent of complete nullification of -the jury’s verdict as a whole — is held not to be sound, under our authorities; in other words, it seems to thi-s court to have been bindingly held in our Texas cases the -other way, and -consistently so.

That is to say, as the submissions were made here, the jury’s finding of excess speed does not conflict with -a mere failure to find that there had been improper *297 control, which was all the two allegedly contradictory findings in this case amounted to. Manlove v. Lavelle, Tex.Civ.App., 235 S.W. 324; Smith v. Young, Tex.Civ.App., 147 S.W.2d 859; Austin v. De George, Tex.Civ.App., 55 S.W.2d 585 (error dism.); Rankin v. Joe D. Hughes, Tex.Civ.App., 161 S.W.2d 883 (writ ref WOM); Akers v. Epperson, Tex.Civ.App., 172 S.W.2d 512, C. Q. answered, 141 Tex. 189, 171 S.W.2d 483, 156 A.L.R. 1028; Blaugrund v. Gish, Tex.Civ.App., 179 S.W.2d 257, affirmed 142 Tex. 379, 179 S.W.2d 266.

Wherefore, the existence of such a conflict on direct findings — as so opposed to each other — having been thus, as a matter of law, determined not to have occurred or resulted, and both excess speed and improper lookout — as well also as the defensive-issues on proximate cause — having been found against the appellant, the trial court was fully justified in thereupon determining that the appellant had been con-tributórily negligent, hence could not recover upon that account. Stehling v. Johnston, Tex.Civ.App., 32 S.W.2d 696, at page 697 (writ refused).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

National Lloyds Insurance Co. v. McCasland
566 S.W.2d 565 (Texas Supreme Court, 1978)
Whatley v. Whatley
493 S.W.2d 299 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1973)
Fortune v. Swap Shop
352 S.W.2d 148 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1961)
Kimble v. Younger Bros.-J. M. English Truck Lines, Inc.
283 S.W.2d 254 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Munoz v. Bollack Store
238 S.W.2d 275 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1951)
Crawford v. Detering Co.
234 S.W.2d 123 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
216 S.W.2d 294, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 927, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-younger-bros-inc-texapp-1948.