Fredonia State Bank v. General American Life Insurance Co.

884 S.W.2d 167, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3329, 1992 WL 674062
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 27, 1992
Docket12-90-00293-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 884 S.W.2d 167 (Fredonia State Bank v. General American Life Insurance Co.) 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
Fredonia State Bank v. General American Life Insurance Co., 884 S.W.2d 167, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3329, 1992 WL 674062 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

T.C. CHADICK, Justice (Retired).1

This is an action to collect the face amount of two life insurance policies, each in the amount of $250,000.00, and recover associated relief.

Fredonia State Bank, executor of the estate of Claytor Blake III, deceased, Fredonia State Bank, Commercial National Bank, and Claytor Blake, Inc., hereinafter collectively called the Blake Group, as plaintiffs, sued General American Life Insurance Company, as defendant, in a district court of Nacogdo-ches County. Trial was by jury, and judgment was entered awarding the Blake Group $690,356.14, together with postjudgment interest, costs, etc. The judgment is not wholly satisfactory to any party. The Blake Group appeals and General American urges cross-points of error.

The trial judge submitted fourteen questions for jury determination. Judgment is based upon jury answers to Questions No. 1-4. The jury did not answer Question No. 5. Answers to Questions 6-14 were disregarded on motion for judgment non obstante vere-dicto by General American.

By its response to Question No. 1, the jury found the death of Claytor Blake, III was not [169]*169the result of suicide. The answer to Question No. 2, found that the medical portion, Part II, of the application, or a copy thereof, was not attached to Policy No. 1987228 upon delivery to Blake. A like answer was made to Question No. 3 respecting Policy No. 1987228. By answer to Question No. 4, the jury found that Claytor Blake, III did not misrepresent his medical history in order to obtain life insurance.

By cross-points, General American put in issue the jury’s answers to the first four questions the charge propounded on grounds now to be discussed.

Cross-points ten and eleven raise the issue of no evidence and insufficient evidence to support the jury’s answer to Question No. 1 in the charge. The suicide issue was hotly contested, and numerous witnesses testified. In testing legal insufficiency points, the reviewing court must consider only the evidence and reasonable inferences supporting the findings, disregarding all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Davis v. City of San Antonio, 752 S.W.2d 518, 622 (Tex.1988); Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965). If there is some probative evidence supporting the jury’s finding, the legal insufficiency point must be overruled. In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660, 661 (1951).

Factual insufficiency points require consideration of all pertinent evidence to determine whether the proof amounts to more than a scintilla of evidence; if so, the evidence is sufficient. Plas-Tex, Inc. v. U.S. Steel Corp., 772 S.W.2d 442, 445 (Tex.1989); In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d at 661.

All parties agree that a jury finding that the death of Claytor Blake, III was not the result of suicide rendered inoperative the exclusionary provisions for suicide as pleaded by General American. General American sought an instructed verdict on the issue and objected to its submission to the jury.

The official death certificate showed the cause of death as undetermined. Such document is prima facie proof of the factual information it contains. Buchanan v. American National Ins. Co., 446 S.W.2d 384, 387 (Tex.Civ.App. — El Paso 1969, writ refd n.r.e.).

Mr. Blake and his wife, Doris, arrived at the Cotton Eyed Joe Club at about 11:00 p.m. on the evening before Mr. Blake’s death from gunshot wounds which he received the following morning. The club manager testified he saw Mrs. Blake slap her husband as they entered the club. The manager interceded, Mrs. Blake went back outside, and Mr. Blake went to the bar, after stating by way.of apology, “I thought it was settled in the car.” In a short time, the manager saw Mrs. Blake reentering, and left his office and walked with her to the bar. When she reached her husband, his back was to her; she shoved him, causing his drink to spill. Again, the manager interceded. Mrs. Blake leaned over on her husband’s shoulder. The manager thought Mrs. Blake was whispering to her husband, and heard Mr. Blake say, “Woman, did you bite me?”, and firmly grasped her right shoulder, but Mr. Blake did not push, slap, hit, strike, or . otherwise make physical contact with his wife. The couple left the club, but the manager noticed them sitting in their automobile outside when he was closing the club at midnight. The gunshot episode occurred within a couple of hours after midnight.

The gun said to be involved was submitted by police to laboratory examination. The laboratory reported inability to find fingerprints on it. Hand swabs from the person of Mr. Blake were also subjected to laboratory examination. The laboratory was unable to detect gunshot residue (antimony, barium, and lead) on the hand swabs submitted. The report stated:

The absence of gunshot residues on hand swabs is consistent with any of the following conditions.
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(C) Gunshot residues were deposited, but were removed or reduced due to moisture or wiping of the hands.
(D) The weapon used does not deposit gunshot residues in sufficient quantity for detection on the hands of the persons firing the weapon.

[170]*170Other laboratory tests showed that the gun tested emitted gunshot residue. Mortuary personnel reported that Mr. Blake’s hands were placed in plastic bags and not cleaned before the hand swabbing test procedure occurred. An autopsy report of an external examination of Mr. Blake’s body, aside from a bullet wound to the head, located superficial abrasions of the right chest, suggestive of bite marks.

Mrs. Doris Blake was not tested by police to determine whether her hands showed gunshot residue. She refused to undergo a polygraph examination. Expert opinions were given that the fatal wound was consistent with a struggle over a gun or a scuffle in which Mr. Blake was holding a gun. A licensed investigator and forty-years veteran of the Nacogdoches police department testified as to his investigation, and stated his opinion was that the police homicide investigator’s investigation was slanted in favor of Mrs. Doris Blake.

When the no evidence standard is applied, the foregoing is sufficient to show there is evidence from which reasonable inferences may be drawn to support the jury’s conclusion and finding that Mr. Blake did not commit suicide. General American’s no evidence contention is not well taken, and its Cross-Point No. 10 is overruled.

Consideration of General American’s factual insufficient evidence point requires consideration of all evidence bearing upon the answer to Question No. 1. Scattered through the ten-volume, over 2,000 page, statement of facts is evidence pertinent to the issue. Relevant evidence, other than that already recited, tends to contradict, explain away, or cast doubt upon the verity of evidence supporting the jury’s answer.

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Bluebook (online)
884 S.W.2d 167, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3329, 1992 WL 674062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fredonia-state-bank-v-general-american-life-insurance-co-texapp-1992.