General Acc. Fire & Life Ins. v. Bundren

283 S.W. 491
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 12, 1926
DocketNo. 627-4487
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 283 S.W. 491 (General Acc. Fire & Life Ins. v. Bundren) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Acc. Fire & Life Ins. v. Bundren, 283 S.W. 491 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1926).

Opinion

SHORT, J.

The opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals rendered in this case is reported in 274 S. W. 671, from which it appears that an appeal from the award of the Industrial Accident Board was taken by the plaintiff in error against the defendant in error, who carried a policy of insurance with the former in compliance with the provisions of the Employers’ Liability Act (Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1918, arts. 5246 — 1 to.5246 — 91). Upon the trial in the district court, where the defendant in error filed a' crpss-action, judgment was rendered that the plaintiff in error take nothing and that the defendant in error recover certain sums of money together with his attorneys, who are shown to have an interest in the recovery. The case was tried on special issues submitted, and the jury found in response to the issues that the defendant in error had not recovered from' the injuries sustained by him, and that he would never recover entirely, which findings are not attacked. However, the third question, “What percentage, if any. of his incapacity to labor in the future has been caused by the injuries?” to which the jury answered 75 per cent., is attacked by reason of the fact that, after the verdict was returned, the trial judge indicated that he thought the percentage of the incapacity found by the jury was too large and counsel for defendant in error filed what they termed a “remittitur”; it purporting to reduce the percentage of incapacity from 75 per cent, as found by the jury to 50 per cent. Thereupon the court entered a judgment allowing the defendant in error $10.80 per week for a period of 300 weeks. The allowance of $10.80 per week for a period of 300 weeks is apparently based upon articles 5246 — 18, 5246 — 19, of Vernon’s Sayies’ 1918 Supp. Statutes, which provide that, while the incapacity of the employee for work resulting from the injuries is partial, the association shall pay him a weekly compensation equal to 60 per cent, of the difference between his average weekly wages before his injury and his average weekly wage-earning capacity during the existence of such partial incapacity. When the jury answered the three questions' submitted to it, the defendant in error filed a motion to render judgment on the pleadings, evidence, and findings of the jury in a lump sum amounting to $4,845. This motion was filed May 10, 1924, and on May 17th it came regularly on to be heard, and the court formally granted the same, except as to that part referring to a lump sum, and, after reciting certain facts in addition to those found by the jury as a basis therefor, including the questions and answers of the jury, the judgment of the trial court proceeds as follows :

[493]*493“It appearing to the court further that the said defendant, Bundren, has filed remittitur in this case of all future incapacity suffered by him as shown by the pleadings, evidence, and finding of the jury and judgment of the court in excess of DO per cent, of future permanent incapacity to labor. * * * It is therefor© the order, judgment, and decree of'the court that the plaintiff General Accident Fire & Life Insurance Corporation, Limited, do have and recover of and from the defendant, Lee W. Bundren, nothing by reason of this suit. It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the defendant, Lee W. Bundren, do have and recover of and from the plaintiff General Accident Fire & Life-Insurance Corporation, Limited, the sum of $2.70, together with 6 per cent, interest thereon from the 24th day ■ of April, 1924, and that said defendant do have and recover of and from said plaintiff the further sum of $10.80 per week for 300 weeks, payable weekly beginning April 24, 1924.”

After, this judgment rendered upon this motion of the defendant in error had been entered, the plaintiff in error having previously filed on April 25, 1924, an • original motion for a new trial, and on May 10, 1924, having filed an amended motion, thereafter filed a supplemental motion for a new trial, in which, among other things, it ■complained of the verdict of the jury on the ground that it showed the jury was influ-•eneed by passion and prejudice and was not guided by the evidence. These motions for a new trial were on the 17th of May, 1924, ■overruled. Plaintiff in error also filed assignments of error on August 27, 1924, -in which it alleged that the verdict of the jury showed that it was influenced by passion and prejudice and not gnided by the evidence, and was wholly unsupported by the evidence, •wherein it found that the defendant in error is 75 per cent, disabled, and because the judgment is not entered upon the verdict of the jury as found by the jury on special issues, the opinion of the judge being substituted instead, and because the judgment does not ■conform to the verdict, and the court is with■out power to enter the judgment as entered, ■claiming that it was the duty of the trial court to either set aside the verdict in whole and grant a new trial, or enter a judgment in conformity with the judgment on special issues.

Tire Court of Civil Appeals having affirmed fhe judgment of the district court, and appli■cation for writ of error having been made to the Supreme Court, it was granted. This application contains two assignments of error, the second of which alleges that the opinion •of the Court of Civil Appeals in this case is in conflict with the holdings of the various ■Courts of Civil Appeals in certain other cases, among which are the following: Scott v. Bank (Tex. Civ. App.) 66 S. W. 485; Casey-Swasey v. Insurance Co., 32 Tex. Civ. App. 158, 73 S. W. 864; Arkansas Co. v. Bank (Tex. Civ. App.) 137 S. W. 1179; Fant v. Sullivan (Tex. Civ. App.) 152 S. W. 516; McLemore v. Bickerstaff (Tex. Civ. App.) 179 S. W. 537; Essex v. Mitchell (Tex. Civ. App.) 183 S. W. 399; Swearingen v. Swearingen (Tex. Civ. App.) 193 S. W. 442; Benton v. Jones (Tex. Civ. App.) 220 S. W. 193; Ford v. Honse (Tex. Civ. App.) 225 S. W. 860; Lakewood Heights Co. v. McCuistion (Tex. Civ. App.) 226 S. W. 1112.

The first assignment of error is in the following language:

“Because the honorable Court of Civil Appeals erred in holding that the court below did not commit error in requiring appellee to file a remittitur herein in violation of articles 1986 to 1990 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.”

To this assignment is appended the following proposition:

“The court, in cases submitted upon special issues, must either'enter judgment on the verdict or grant a new trial.”

These assignments of error will be discussed together, inasmuch as they refer to the same question.

Article 1994 of Vernon’s Sayles’ Texas Civil Statutes 1914, which is now article 2211 of the Statutes of 1925, prescribes that:

“The judgment of the court shall conform to the pleadings, the nature of the case proved and the verdict, if any, and shal be. so framed as to give the party all the relief to which he may be entitled either in, law or equity.”

Article 1986 of the statute first mentioned, now article 2202 of the Statutes of 1925, prescribes that:

“A special verdict found under the provisions of the two preceding articles shall, as between the parties, be conclusive as to the facts found.”

Article 1990 of the statute first mentioned, now article 2209 of the Statutes of 1925, provides that:

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Bluebook (online)
283 S.W. 491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-acc-fire-life-ins-v-bundren-texcommnapp-1926.