Indemnity Ins. Co. of North America v. Weeks

75 S.W.2d 925
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 25, 1934
DocketNo. 2560
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 75 S.W.2d 925 (Indemnity Ins. Co. of North America v. Weeks) 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
Indemnity Ins. Co. of North America v. Weeks, 75 S.W.2d 925 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

WALKER, Chief Justice.

This was a'compensation suit with appel-lee, W. W. Weeks, the employee; appellant, Indemnity Insurance Company of North [926]*926America, the compensation insurance carrier; and Gulf Refining Company of Port Arthur, Jefferson County, the employer. Appellee received his alleged injuries in the plant of the employer in the city of Port Arthur. The suit was filed in the district court of Jefferson county by appellee against appellant to set aside a compromise settlement, duly approved by the Industrial Accident Board, of a claim for compensation which, on the allegations of his petition, had accrued to him under the provisions of our Workmen’s Compensation Act (Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 8306 et seq.); by an amended petition appel-lee pleaded an additional cause of action for compensation at the rate of $20 per month as for permanent total incapacity for the full statutory period. The following is a brief statement of the nature and result of the suit:

On or about the 26th day of September, 1030, appellee sustained an accidental personal injury which, though not permanent, totally incapacitated him, as found by the jury, for a period of 233 weeks from the date of thé injury. The jury also found_ that he suffered no partial incapacity prior to tne trial and would suffer none whatever in the future.

Question No. 10, hereinafter discussed, to which the jury answered, “It is not,” was as follows: “Special Issue No. 10. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the disability, if any, of plaintiff is not the sole result of some disease independent of the personal injury, if any, received by him on the 26th day of Sept. 1930?”

It was shown without controversy that ap-pellee and appellant entered into an agreement to settle appellee’s claim upon a consideration of $209; that this settlement was approved by the Industrial Accident Board on or about December 5, 1930; and that thereafter on or about the 20th day of July, 1931, this suit was filed in the Fifty-Eighth district court of Jefferson county to set aside the compromise settlement on allegations of fraud in its procurement. Hilton Berger was appellant’s agent in negotiating the settlement with appellee. The fraud charged in the petition consisted of representations made by Hilton Berger to appellee to induce him to make the settlement. Berger’s representations, pleaded by appellee as fraudulently inducing the contract and submitted to .the jury, were: (a) That Berger had been advised by Dr. Long that appellee’s physical condition was not the result of an injury, and (b) that Berger told appellee that $209 was all that he was entitled to receive and that if he did not recover that he would pay him further compensation.

On the allegations of Dr. Long’s statement to Berger, the jury found that Berger told appellee “that he had been advised by Dr. Long that plaintiff’s physical condition was not the result of an injury”; that appellee believed the statement of Berger; that he believed it “to be truethat he relied upon the statement as being true; and was “induced to sign said compromise agreement in question because of Berger’s representations * * * as to what Dr. Long said.”

Question No. 14, hereinafter discussed, answered by the jury in the affirmative, was as follows: “Special Issue No. 14. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that at the time said compromise agreement was executed that the said Berger told plaintiff that $209.00 was all that he was entitled to receive, and that if he did not recover that, he would pay him further compensation?”

The jury found that appellee believed the representations submitted by question No. 14 to be true and “was induced to sign said compromise agreement in question because of Berger’s statement * * * with reference to paying further compensation.” The jury further found that Berger, at the time the compromise agreement was executed, did not intend to reopen the case and to pay appellee additional compensation, in the event he did not recover.

Appellee’s injuries, if any, were sustained on or about September 26, 1930. As stated above, this suit, in so far as it was an action to set aside the compromise settlement, was filed on July 30, 1931. On February 8, 1933, appellee filed with the Industrial Accident Board his written request to set aside the compromise agreement, giving as grounds therefor the issues of fraud, as found by the jury on the trial of this case. The Board refused to set aside the compromise agreement, and appellee gave due notice that he would not abide by the award and, within the statutory period for filing his appeal, filed an amended petition herein praying, in addition to his cause of action to set aside the compromise settlement on allegations of fraud, that the award of the Industrial Accident Board be set aside and that he be granted compensation at the rate of $20 per week for the full statutory period, as for permanent total incapacity. On the issue raised by this element of appellee’s cause of action, the jury found, in answer to the last question submitted, that appellee “had good cause for [927]*927not filing his claim for compensation with the Industrial Accident Board up to February 8, 1933.”

On the facts found by the jury, judgment was entered setting aside the compromise settlement! and awarding appellee compensation for 233 weeks at the rate of $20 per week, as for total incapacity, less the $209 paid as an inducement for the settlement. Appellant has duly perfected its appeal from that judgment.

Opinion.

On the issues made by appellee’s petition, the district court had jurisdiction only to set aside the compromise settlement; it was without jurisdiction to entertain appel-lee’s cause of action for compensation on his attempted appeal from the refusal of the Industrial Accident Board to entertain his claim. Lumbermen’s Reciprocal Ass’n v. Henderson (Tex. Com. App.) 15 S.W.(2d) 565.

We agree with the contention of appellant that the findings of the jury on the issue of fraud do not support the judgment, setting aside the compromise agreement. While it is true that Berger told appellee that Dr. Dong had advised him that appellee’s physical condition was not the result of an injury, and that appellee believed that statement and relied thereon and was induced thereby to sign tile compromise agreement, the undisputed facts are that Dr. Long made that very representation to Berger. There was no allegation that Berger knew that Dr. Long’s statement to him was false and, with that information, made the statement to appellee fraudulently to induce him to execute the contract. No such issue was submitted to the jury, though appellant duly requested the submission of the following issue, which was refused by the court:

“2. If you have answered Issue No. 13-C ‘Yes’ (that is, that appellee relied upon Berger’s statement as to what Dr. Long had said), then answer this:
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Berger made said statement with intent to deceive?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as you find the facts to be.”

We overrule appellant’s contention that issue No.

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Bluebook (online)
75 S.W.2d 925, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indemnity-ins-co-of-north-america-v-weeks-texapp-1934.