Gainsco County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Martinez

27 S.W.3d 97, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 4445, 2000 WL 917932
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 5, 2000
Docket04-99-00045-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 27 S.W.3d 97 (Gainsco County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Martinez) 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
Gainsco County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Martinez, 27 S.W.3d 97, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 4445, 2000 WL 917932 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by:

CATHERINE STONE, Justice.

This appeal arises from a personal injury lawsuit. In nine issues, appellants Gainsco and the Estate of Rogelio Hernandez contend a fatal conflict exists in the jury’s damage award, the trial court erred in numerous evidentiary rulings, and insufficient evidence exists to support the damage awards.1 Because we hold there is no fatal conflict and the evidence supports the verdict, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual and PROCEDURAL Background

In 1995, Rogelio C. Hernandez, an intoxicated, unlicensed, and uninsured motorist, drove his truck into the back of an eighteen wheel tractor-trailer driven by appel-lee Jose Luis Martinez (“Martinez”). The collision killed Hernandez. Martinez later filed a claim with his employer’s insurer, Gainsco, for injuries he sustained to his back, neck, and leg as a result of the accident. When Gainsco contested Martinez’s claim, he filed suit against Gainsco and Hernandez’s estate. At trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Martinez, awarding $86,400 in past lost earning capacity, $45,000 in future lost earning capacity, $36,500 in future physical impairment, $37,205.65 in past reasonable and necessary medical care, and $15,000 in future reasonable and necessary medical care. The jury entered a zero damage finding for past or future physical pain and mental anguish. Additionally, the jury awarded zero damages for physical impairment in the past.

Damage Awards

In its first and second issues, Gainsco challenges the jury’s damage awards for past and future lost earning capacity, future physical impairment, and future medical care, on the grounds that the awards fatally conflict with the zero damage findings for past or future physical pain and mental anguish and past physical impairment.

In reviewing the jury findings for conflict, the threshold question is whether the findings concern the same material fact. Bender v. Southern Pac. Transp. Co., 600 S.W.2d 257, 260 (Tex.1980). A court may not strike jury answers on the ground of conflict if there is any reasonable basis upon which they can be reconciled. Id. The court must “reconcile apparent conflicts in the jury’s findings” if reasonably possible in light of the plead[102]*102ings and evidence, the manner of submission, and the other findings considered as a whole. Id; Biggs v. GSC Enters., Inc., 8 S.W.3d 765, 767 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1999, no pet.). The party seeking to set aside an allegedly conflicting finding bears the burden of showing that one of the conflicting jury answers necessarily requires a judgment different from the judgment the trial court rendered. Lee v. Huntsville Livestock Sens., Inc., 934 S.W.2d 158, 160 (Tex.App.-14th Dist. 1996, no writ).

Gainsco asserts the jury’s findings on physical pain, impairment, lost earning capacity, and medical expenses all relate to the same material fact: the pain Martinez sustained as a result of the accident. Gainsco contends that the evidence introduced at trial established that if Martinez suffered any incapacity at all, it was solely as a result of the pain he experienced. Gainsco claims the jury’s failure to award damages for past or future physical pain is proper because Martinez lied to his physicians about prior injuries, thereby permitting the jury to disbelieve his testimony about the pain he claims he suffered as a result of the accident. Gainsco thus argues that the jury’s awards of other damages for impairment, lost wages, and lost earning capacity, fatally conflict with the zero damage award for physical pain.

In support of its argument, Gainsco primarily relies on Kelley and Lee. In Kelley v. Atlantic Gulf Stevedores, Inc., a personal injury case, the court held the jury’s finding of lost future wages fatally conflicted with its finding of no lost past wages because it was inconsistent for the jury to deny damages for the loss of past wages after granting damages for the expected loss of future wages. 681 S.W.2d 275, 278-79 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, writ ref d n.r.e.). In Lee, another personal injury ease, the court held a fatal conflict existed between the jury’s award for future loss of earning capacity and future physical impairment, and the jury’s failure to award damages for future pain and mental anguish. 934 S.W.2d at 159.

We distinguish those cases on the evidence presented here. As discussed by the court in State Farm County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Moran, 809 S.W.2d 613, 615 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 1991, writ denied), damage findings which at first blush appear inconsistent, may often be reconciled. Moran involved an inconsistent damage award where the jury failed to award damages for past physical injuries but awarded damages for future physical injuries. Id. at 620. Although the conflict in Moran was irreconcilable, the court recognized the possibility for an accident victim to sustain a present injury that fails to manifest itself in the form of pain, impairment, or medical expenses until some uncertain future date. Moran, 809 S.W.2d at 620.

After a review of the record, we hold the testimony offered by Martinez supports a reconcilable damage award of the kind contemplated by the court in Moran. At trial, Martinez testified that although he felt some pain in his body, he felt more nervous than pain immediately after the collision. On cross examination, he testified that two weeks after the accident, he began experiencing pain all over his body, specifically in his neck, back, and shoulders. He further testified if he stands for prolonged periods of time, he frequently falls because his legs do not respond.

Dr. Valdez, one of the physicians who treated Martinez, testified about a steady progression of medical complications exhibited by Martinez which Dr. Valdez directly attributed to the collision. Approximately six months after the accident, Dr. Valdez initially treated Martinez for a ro-tator cuff injury to his shoulder. In April 1996, Dr. Valdez determined that in addition to the rotator cuff injury, Martinez sustained injuries to his cervical spine and lumbar disks in his back. On direct examination, Dr. Valdez testified that although these injuries limited Martinez’s ability to work because of pain, “what limited his ability to work more was the fact that he [103]*103had some weakness involved in these areas, which made his right arm and legs unsafe. And so driving or having to lift things or move things around would be something that would not be possible in terms of safety to himself and to others.” (emphasis added).

Keeping in mind our duty to reconcile inconsistent jury findings where a reasonable explanation exists, we hold the jury could have reached the conclusion that Martinez’s injuries were still evolving and that the full extent of his injuries would not be evident until the future. Unlike Moran where the court found no evidence to suggest that the plaintiff would incur future pain, impairment, and expense, the jury here heard testimony from Dr. Valdez concerning a long-term unfavorable prognosis for Martinez. Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
27 S.W.3d 97, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 4445, 2000 WL 917932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gainsco-county-mutual-insurance-co-v-martinez-texapp-2000.