Eli Lilly and Company v. Casey

457 S.W.2d 82
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 19, 1970
Docket4350
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 457 S.W.2d 82 (Eli Lilly and Company v. Casey) 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
Eli Lilly and Company v. Casey, 457 S.W.2d 82 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

GRISSOM, Chief Justice.

Roy Casey sued Eli Lilly and Company in Haskell County for damages. He alleged he purchased Treflan which had been manufactured and placed in commerce by defendant; that Treflan was advertised as a product which, when applied to cotton land, prevented weeds, grass, and the like, from getting into cotton; that it did not prevent such growth in his cotton but stunted his cotton; that defendant breached its implied warranty of fitness or merchantability and plaintiff was damaged as a result of using Treflan in accordance with defendant’s instructions. The defendant, a foreign corporation, filed a plea of privilege to be sued in the county of its residence. The plea was controverted. At the conclusion of a hearing on the venue issues, the court rendered judgment, on July 15, 1969, overruling defendant’s plea of privilege. The defendant excepted and gave notice of appeal. An appeal bond was filed and approved on August 1, 1969. The transcript and statement of facts were filed in this court on August 14, 1969, and, after timely obtaining an extension of time, defendant filed its briefs in this court on October 6, 1969.

The principal complaint about the judgment presented in appellant’s original brief was that there was no evidence connecting it with the manufacture or sale of Treflan. After the appeal had been perfected and appellant’s briefs had been filed, on October 16, 1969, plaintiff filed in the trial court a motion to reopen the evidence, and on October 22nd, plaintiff filed a motion to supplement the statement of facts and transcript to show said motions, that they were granted and to show the additional evidence introduced. On November 21st, 1969, the trial court granted plaintiff’s said motions. On January 2, 1970, the supplemental transcript and statement of facts were filed in this court. The new evidence consisted of the deposition of defendant wherein it admitted that it made and sold Treflan. This was not introduced on the trial.

Supplemental briefs have been filed. The issue presented thereby is whether the trial court erred in reopening the evidence and permitting such proof of facts essential to support its judgment overruling the plea of privilege. Stated differently, could the trial court at said time and under said circumstances permit introduction of such evidence to show that plaintiff has a cause of action against the defendant which arose in Haskell County and thus authorize the conclusion that venue lies in Haskell County under exception 23 or 27 of Article 1995. See Lloyds Casualty Insurer v. McCrary, 149 Tex. 172, 229 S.W.2d 605, 606.

Plaintiff relies upon the provision in Texas R.C.P. 270 that “At any time the [84]*84court may permit additional evidence to be offered where it clearly appears to be necessary to the due administration of justice. Provided in a jury case no evidence on a controversial matter shall be received after the verdict of the jury.” (Emphasis ours). This case was tried by the court and, if the words “at any time” may be construed literally, the court in its discretion could at said late date reopen the evidence and permit introduction of said essential testimony. The corresponding statute, which was repealed by the rules in 1939, was Article 2181. It provided that “At any time before the conclusion of the argument the court may permit additional evidence to be offered to supply an omission where it clearly appears to be necessary to the due administration of justice.”

In Republic National Bank of Dallas v. Fredericks, 155 Tex. 79, 283 S.W.2d 39, 48, a pertinent inventory and appraisement was not offered on the trial but four months after final judgment and three months after the record had been filed in the Court of Civil Appeals it was offered under Rule 270. The trial court refused to admit it, but it was sent to the Court of Civil Appeals in a supplemental transcript and that court considered it and, in part, based its judgment thereon. Consideration of such new evidence was held to be error. The Supreme Court did say that Rule 270 vests trial courts with discretion but that it found no abuse of discretion by the trial court’s refusal to reopen the evidence and admit the inventory and appraisement at said time. It was long the rule that in a trial by the court additional evidence could be admitted at any time before it rendered judgment. In the State of Texas v. Harrington, 407 S.W.2d 467, 479, our Supreme Court held that introduction of deposition testimony that after the verdict had been received and the jury discharged, the drilling period was 16 days was not error because it had been conclusively established on the trial that the drilling period was 16 days and, therefore, such evidence was relative to a non-controversial matter and there was no evidence introduced after the verdict which raised a material issue of fact. In Texas Employers’ Insurance Ass’n. v. Elder, 155 Tex. 27, 282 S.W.2d 371, 375, Ethel Elder, as the surviving common law wife of a deceased employee recovered judgment for death benefits under the Workmen’s Compensation Law. After affirmance of that judgment by the Court of Civil Appeals, the insurer filed in the trial court a motion for leave to present additional evidence to the effect that Ethel had never been divorced from a prior husband and therefore could not recover as the widow of the deceased. The trial court held that such testimony could not be considered. That point was presented to the Supreme Court. The insurance company claimed the right to have considered by virtue of Rule 270. The Supreme Court said (282 S.W.2d at page 375) that the trial court did not err in refusing to consider that material evidence, which, if believed, would have required a different judgment for it had “lost jurisdiction of the case,” and that while the rule does provide that the court may “at any time” permit additional evidence to be offered, such language should not be construed to mean that new evidence could be considered by the trial court “after the judgment had been affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals.” By virtue of the last statement appellee Casey contends the trial court had jurisdiction to hear such, evidence and take said action at any time before the judgment of this court becomes final. We think it is not subject to that interpretation. The facts in that case were that the motion to reopen the evidence in the trial court was presented after the judgment had been affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals and those were, necessarily, the facts the court was discussing when it made the statement relied upon by appellee. Most of the cases which could be considered as in any way supporting ap-pellee’s contention are not cases in which the court at a similarly late date permitted introduction of new evidence but are cases in which the court refused to reopen the evidence and it was merely held that the [85]*85court did not abuse its discretion by such refusal.

It is generally held that perfection of an appeal transfers the entire controversy to the appellate court and clothes it with exclusive jurisdiction over the entire controversy, both as to parties and subject matter.

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Eli Lilly & Co. v. Fly
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Eli Lilly and Company v. Casey
457 S.W.2d 82 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
457 S.W.2d 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eli-lilly-and-company-v-casey-texapp-1970.