Fair Stores, Inc. v. Lane

240 S.W.2d 373, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 26, 1951
DocketNo. 6120
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 240 S.W.2d 373 (Fair Stores, Inc. v. Lane) 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
Fair Stores, Inc. v. Lane, 240 S.W.2d 373, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086 (Tex. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

LUMPKIN, Justice.

The appellee, C. A. Lane, brought this suit for personal injuries suffered by his wife, Mamie Lane, against the appellant, Fair Stores, Inc., a mercantile establishment in Levelland, Texas. For several days prior to the time of Mrs. Lane’s injury, the appellant had advertised, both in the local newspaper and by the distribution of handbills, that each of the first 200 women who entered its store at 9 a. m., on June 17, 1949, would receive a pair of nylon hose free of charge.

The appellee alleged that, on the morning of June 17, his wife, in response to the appellant’s advertisement, was one of several hundred women gathered in front of the appellant’s store. When the doors of the store were opened at about 9:30 a. m. Mrs. Lane entered on the crest of the crowd and in some manner sustained a broken leg.

The appellee’s cause of action is based on the theory that Mrs. Lane’s injuries were proximately caused by the appellant’s negligence in the following manner: (1) In expressly inviting in excess of 200 prospective customers into its small place of business. (2) In failing to properly police the premises after inviting the general public to come for the opening of the store. (3) In refusing to open the doors of its business at 9 a. m. the advertised time of opening. (4) In failing to rope off the entrance for the expected crowd. (5) In failing to provide handrails or objects for Mrs. Lane to hold to as she entered the building. (6) In having the floor of its premises constructed of a slick, glazed substance that constituted a hidden defect. (7) In failing to have its agents or employees stationed outside of the entrance of the premises to properly police and keep the crowd from pushing and shoving. (8) In constructing the front show windows of the store in a V-shape.

The appellant answered by a general denial. It specifically alleged that the injury sustained by appellee’s wife was a result of the action of a third person over which the appellant had no control. In the alternative, the appellant alleged that Mrs. Lane’s injury was the result of negligence on her part in the following respects: (1) In failing to discover and foresee the danger or peril to which she was subjected by the conduct of the crowd. (2) After discovering the danger of injury by the unruly nature of the crowd, in failing and refusing to take the necessary precautions to prevent the injuries sustained by her, which negligence was a proximate cause of her injuries. (3) In forcing herself to the head of the line and insisting upon being one of the first customers to enter the store. Further, the appellant pleaded that the accident was unavoidable.

Trial was to a jury. After the appellee rested, the trial court overruled the appellant’s motion for an instructed verdict. At the close of the evidence the jury found' in response to special issues that Mrs. Lane’s injuries were not the result of an unavoidable accident. The jury found the-appellant guilty of four acts of negligence, the proximate cause of her injuries: (1) The failure of the appellant’s agent to-properly police its premises; (2) the appellant’s failure and refusal to open the doors of its business at 9 a. m.; (3) the appellant’s failure to rope off the entrance of the store; (4) the appellant’s failure-to have its agents or employees properly police the entrance of its premises and keep the crowd from pushing and shoving. The jury also made certain findings as; [375]*375to the damages suffered by the appellee by reason of his wife’s injuries.

The appellant’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto was overruled, and the court rendered judgment in favor of the appellee. The judgment specifically recites: “It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that based upon such special issues and findings of the jury thereon, that the plaintiff C. A. Lane have and recover from and of the defendant the sum of $10,125.00 for loss of services of Mamie Lane, $1451.00 for past medical expense, $2500.00 for future medical expense, and $5085.00 for the benefit of Mamie Lane for her pain and suffering.”

This judgment was entered on May 1, 1950. On June 6, 1950, the court overruled the appellant’s motion for a new trial. In due time, on August 4, 1950, the transcript was filed in this court; and on January 26, 1951, some 234 days after the motion for a new trial was overruled, the appellant by motion asked permission to file the statement of facts here. The appellee is resisting this motion. The appellant contends, however, that although the statement of facts was not filed within the 60-day period prescribed by Rule 386, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, this court may review the aotion of the trial court in rendering its judgment.

In 3-A Tex.Jur. 588-589, it is said: “The absence of a statement of facts merely limits the extent of review by preventing the consideration of assignments of error based upon matters that should appear therein. Such absence does not affect the right to appeal, nor the jurisdiction of the appellate court, nor does it require the dismissal of an appeal, or prevent an affirmance or reversal of the judgment. The judgment appealed from will be affirmed if there is no statement of facts and no assignments of error which can be reviewed without a statement of facts. However, the rule does not apply when it affirmatively appears from the record that the court decided the case upon an erroneous conclusion of law.”

An appellate court may consider errors of law apparent of record without a statement of facts; it may inquire into the sufficiency of the pleadings to support the judgment; it may revise any errors committed by the court in applying the law to the facts found by it; and it may consider the court’s alleged error in rendering a particular judgment on the findings of the jury on special issues. 3-A Tex.Jur. 589-592.

The appellant insists that this case was decided upon an erroneous conclusion of law. As revealed by the transcript, the appellee is seeking to recover for the injuries sustained by his wife as she was carried forward by the push of a crowd attracted by an opening sale and an offer of free nylon hose. The jury, in response to special issues, found the appellant guilty of four acts of negligence. The trial court, the appellant contends, rendered judgment for the appellee upon the erroneous conclusion that these findings of negligence were the proximate cause of the appellee’s damages, when, as a matter of law, the findings are insufficient to support the judgment rendered.

In the case of Texas & P. Ry. Co. v, Bigham, 90 Tex. 223, 38 S.W. 162, 163, the Supreme Court discussed the meaning of the words “proximate cause” as used in cases of this nature. In part the court said: “The maxim that, ‘in law, the immediate, and not the remote, cause of any event, is regarded,’ applies to cases of negligence. The negligence must be the proximate cause of the injury. But the word ‘proximate’ is not happily used in that connection. In ordinary language, a prox-mate cause is the nearest cause; but, in a legal sense, an act of neligence may be deemed a proximate cause of an injury, although it may not be the last cause in a connected succession of events which have led to a result. It is usually laid down, in cases of negligence, that, in order to constitute the proximate cause of an injury, the injury must be the natural and probable result of the negligent act or omission. Since every event is the result of a natural law, we apprehend the meaning is that the injury should be such as may probably happen as a consequence of the negligence, under the ordinary operation of

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Related

Lane v. Fair Stores, Inc.
243 S.W.2d 683 (Texas Supreme Court, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
240 S.W.2d 373, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fair-stores-inc-v-lane-texapp-1951.