Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Christianson

395 S.W.2d 53, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2207
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 9, 1965
Docket108
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 395 S.W.2d 53 (Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Christianson) 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
Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Christianson, 395 S.W.2d 53, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2207 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinions

GREEN, Chief Justice.

This is a case arising out of Hurricane Carla. Appellees sued upon an insurance policy generally called a Comprehensive Dwelling Policy, alleging that the dwelling owned and occupied by them as their home, situated near Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas, was totally obliterated as a result of the hurricane and accompanying tornadoes, as were also the household goods contained therein.

As affects this case, the policy in question insured both dwelling and contents against the perils of windstorm and hurricane, but expressly excluded and did not insure against loss caused by tidal wave, high water or overflow, whether driven by wind or not, nor by rain, whether driven by wind or not, unless the wind shall first make an opening in the walls or roof of the described building, and insurer shall then be liable only for loss to the interior of the building, or the insured property therein, caused immediately by rain entering the building through such openings.

Appellant, as defendant below, plead such exclusionary provisions of the policy.

The jury found in answer to special issues numbered as stated (1) that appellees’ dwelling house was damaged and destroyed as a direct result of Hurrieane Carla; (2) that the dwelling house sustained damage or destruction as a direct result of tornado [56]*56winds occurring in the area; (3) that the actual and necessary cost of repairing and replacing the house would be $20,303.00 (4) that the actual cash value of the house before Carla was $20,303.00, and (5) after Carla was none; (6) that appellees’ personal property, household goods, and contents contained in the dwelling house were damaged and destroyed as a direct result of Carla; (7) that such personal property, etc. sustained loss and damage as a direct result of tornado winds; (8) that the actual and necessary cost of repairing and replacing such damaged and destroyed personal property was $6,863.00, (13) that no part of any damage to the dwelling house was directly caused by tidal wave, high water, or overflow, whether driven by wind or not; (14) that no part of any damage to the house was directly caused by a combination of the winds of the hurricane and tidal wave, high water, or overflow whether driven by wind or not, or 'by rain entering the building through openings not made by the wind; and (IS) and (16), the same as (13) and (14) applicable to the household goods of appellees. Other findings were also made, some of which will be discussed under appropriate points of error.

On the basis of the evidence and the verdict, judgment was entered for appellees against appellant, from which appellant has appealed to this court.

Admittedly, the dwelling house and its contents except the concrete foundations were totally destroyed at some time during the passage of Hurricane Carla through this area September 9-12, 196L We show herewith Plaintiff Exhibit 6, a photograph of the house taken Saturday, September 9, 1961, as appellees were preparing to leave ahead of the oncoming hurricane, and Plaintiff Exhibit 16, a photograph of the site of the same house taken by Mr. Christian-son Thursday, September 14, 1961, on his return, to demonstrate the complete destruction.

PLAINTIFF’S EXHIBIT NO. 6

[57]*57PLAINTIFFS EXHIBIT NO. 16

The house in question was located at the head and on the east side of Turtle Bay, a long, narrow, shallow inlet which at its mouth is about a mile in width, and opens into Tres Palacios Bay, a much larger body of water. In front of appellees’ home, Turtle Bay is less than one-half mile wide, and normally the water is about one foot deep, and on the United States Department of Interior map in evidence as P.Ex. 24-25, is styled a bayou. The house was located about two miles west of the town of Palacios, the municipal airport and old Camp Hulen being in between, and about 2 miles inland and north of the house which was the subject of litigation in McDonald v. New York Central Mutual Fire Ins. Co., Tex.Sup.Ct., 380 S.W.2d 545. Much of the same evidence as was discussed in that opinion concerning the wind and water and wave action in the general area caused by the hurricane September 9-11, 1961, was presented in the present case, including testimony of the witness Jensen. Without repeating the testimony, we refer to McDonald, supra, pages 546-547, for a clear description of the manner in which the elements of the hurricane reached the Pala-cios vicinity and of the weather phenonema present September 10 and 11,1961, as shown by the testimony in the trial of this case.

Although many citizens of Palacios left before the eye of the hurricane passed through the area, some remained and rode out the storm. A number of these testified to the ferocity of the winds, variously estimated at from 125 to 175 miles per hour, and to the damage to buildings done by such winds as well as to the absence of water in Palacios and the land area surrounding prior to the change of the direction of the [58]*58wind from northeast to south and southwest about 4:30 to 5:00 p. m. September 11th. At least three witnesses testified to seeing tornadoes approaching the neighborhood of appellees’ home Monday afternoon from the southwest and west. Witness Lowry testified that between 4:15 and 4:45 p.m. Monday, while in his car on Highway 35 less than half a mile from appellees’ house, he saw two large tornadoes, mushrooms at the top, come inland from the west, their tails bouncing along the ground and whipping around, and watched while one hit and stripped out the Alcorn house (seen in ap-pellees’ exhibit 16, supra) less than a hundred yards from appellees’ house, and also struck an outhouse on appellees’ property. He also saw it strike and tear off parts of a corrugated iron hangar at the municipal airport. At this time, according to the witness, there was no water on the ground at appel-lees’ place. Pieces of buildings were flying through the air, and caution caused him to leave to return to Palacios before damage was caused to the Christianson dwelling house. No one testified to seeing appellees’ house thereafter. The evidence does establish that at some time during the hurricane, and after Lowry had left the scene, water did flood the area of appellees’ property to the extent of six feet above the ground level. Whether appellees’ house was still standing, or had been destroyed before such water arrived, became a fact issue under the direct and circumstantial evidence, and expert testimony.

Motion picture scenes taken in Palacios during the hurricane on Monday, as well as a large number of pictures of severe damage done to property well above the top water line, were in evidence, many of which tended to support appellees’ theory of damage caused by winds rather than rising water or wave action. Each party relied strongly on expert testimony. Appellees produced Dr. Randolph Blumberg, an oceanographer and meteorologist, with a Ph.D. from Texas A & M in such studies, who was a consulting engineer primarily in oceanography and research engineering, and who qualified as an expert in the study of hurricanes and tornadoes and their effect on structures, and in determining the cause of damage to buildings. He testified at great length on hurricanes and tornadoes generally and Carla specifically. It was in testimony that the conditions at the site of appellees’ dwelling were the same at the time of the trial as immediately following Carla, and that no material changes had been made. Dr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Commonwealth Lloyd's Insurance Co. v. Thomas
678 S.W.2d 278 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Elrod v. Elrod
517 S.W.2d 669 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1974)
Travelers Indemnity Co. v. McKillip
469 S.W.2d 160 (Texas Supreme Court, 1971)
Holzapfel v. Brueggman
404 S.W.2d 916 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1966)
Insurance Company of North America v. Pittser
399 S.W.2d 901 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)
Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Christianson
395 S.W.2d 53 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
395 S.W.2d 53, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartford-fire-insurance-company-v-christianson-texapp-1965.