Houston Sports Association, Inc. v. Russell

450 S.W.2d 741, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2635
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 28, 1970
Docket277
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 450 S.W.2d 741 (Houston Sports Association, Inc. v. Russell) 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
Houston Sports Association, Inc. v. Russell, 450 S.W.2d 741, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2635 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

TUNKS, Chief Justice.

This is a personal injury case. The injuries were sustained by Mrs. Ella B. Russell, plaintiff in the trial court and appel-lee here, when she fell while going down some steps in the Harris County Domed Stadium. The Houston Sports Association occupies the Harris County Domed Stadium as lessee from Harris County. Houston Sports Association was the defendant in the trial court and is appellant. At the time of her fall Mrs. Russell was in the domed stadium as an invitee of [743]*743Houston Sports Association. The trial was to a july and resulted in a judgment for Mrs. Russell for $42,892.25. Under the circumstances hereinafter discussed the trial court required a remittitur of $12,500. Such remittitur was duly filed. Houston Sports Association has appealed. The parties will sometimes be designated as they were in the trial court.

Soon after the domed stadium was opened, the Houston Sports Association began conducting guided tours through it. Each person taking such tour was charged $1. On October 18, 1965, Mrs. Russell, her sister and her cousin took the guided tour of the stadium. At the time Mrs. Russell was 79 years old and her sister and cousin were ladies about 70 years of age. It was the practice of the appellant to conduct special slower moving tours for elderly people and those who were physically handicapped. These ladies decided to take this slow tour.

After those intending to take the tour had entered the stadium they were assembled for preliminary instructions. They were then divided into groups, each led by a guide, and proceeded through the stadium. As they came to the various points of interest the guide would give a “spiel” calling attention to and explaining the interesting features of the stadium.

There were about 40 people in the slow moving tour of which Mrs. Russell and her relatives were members. The tour had been going for some time when it reached the area on the fifth level of the stadium where the press boxes were located. Much of the testimony given in the description of the area was given with reference to a drawing on a blackboard. The trial judge and the members of the jury were able to see the blackboard to which the witnesses referred and pointed as they described the area. The description of the area was, therefore, clearer to them than it is to this Court. It is apparent, though, that the members of the tour group approached the press boxes from one level and were required to take two steps down to reach the level on which the press boxes were. It was in taking the first of these two steps down that Mrs. Russell fell. There was no handrail for the use of those descending the steps. The liability issues submitted to the jury and the answers thereto were as follows:

“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 1
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the depth of the step in question created a more than ordinary risk of harm to Mrs. Russell in using the step at the time and on the occasion in question ?
“By the term ‘more than ordinary risk of harm’ is meant such risk as would not have been allowed to exist by reasonably prudent persons in the exercise of ordinary care under the same or similar circumstances.
“To which the jury answered ‘We do’.
“If you have answered Special Issue No. 1 ‘We do’, and only in that event, then answer the following:
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 2
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such risk of harm, if any, was a proximate cause of Mrs. Ella B. Russell’s fall?
“To which the jury answered ‘We do’.
“If you have answered Special Issue No. 1 ‘We do’, and only in that event, then answer the following:
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 3
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that at the time that Mrs. Russell took her first step down she did not actually know that she was confronted with a condition creating a more than ordinary risk of harm?
“To which the jury answered ‘She did not actually know’.
[744]*744“If you have answered Special Issue No. 3 ‘She did actually know’, and only in that event, then answer the following:
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 4
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that at the time Mrs. Russell took her first step down she did not actually, fully appreciate the more than ordinary risk of harm, if any, with which she was confronted ?
“To which the jury gave no answer.
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 5
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the failure of the Houston Sports Association to provide handrails on the occasion in question was negligence as that term is herein defined?
“To which the jury answered ‘We do’.
“If you have answered Special Issue No. 5 ‘We do’, and only in that event, then answer the following:
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 6
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such failure, if any, was a proximate cause of Mrs. Russell’s fall?
“To which the jury answered ‘We do’.
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 7
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that at the time and on the occasion in question Plaintiff, Mrs. Ella B. Russell, failed to keep such a lookout as would have been kept by a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care under the same or similar circumstances ?
“To which the jury answered ‘We do not’.
“If you have answered Special Issue No. 7 ‘We do’, and only in that event, then answer:
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 8
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such failure to keep such a lookout, if you have so found, was a proximate cause of the occurrence in question?
“To which the jury gave no answer.
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 9
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the accident in question was not the result of an unavoidable accident?
“By the term ‘unavoidable accident,’ as used in the above Special Issue, is meant an event which occurred without having been proximately caused by any negligence on the part of either party thereto.
“To which the jury answered ‘It was not the result of an unavoidable accident.’ ”

The jury then found that the plaintiff has sustained $42,500 damage for past and future physical and mental pain and suffering and for loss of past earnings and future earning capacity. The damages sustained by way of medical expense were found, separately, to be $392.25.

The first question presented for determination by this Court is the question as to whether there is any probative evidence of the facts found by the jury upon the basis of which liability was imposed upon Houston Sports Association.

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Houston Sports Association, Inc. v. Russell
450 S.W.2d 741 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
450 S.W.2d 741, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houston-sports-association-inc-v-russell-texapp-1970.