Industrial Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Delgadillo

567 S.W.2d 20, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3165
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 19, 1978
DocketNo. 6647
StatusPublished

This text of 567 S.W.2d 20 (Industrial Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Delgadillo) 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
Industrial Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Delgadillo, 567 S.W.2d 20, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3165 (Tex. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

PRESLAR, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an award of total and permanent compensation in a workmen’s compensation case. The principal question presented is the effect of the jury panel being informed of the award made by the Industrial Accident Board in the case.

During voir dire, Appellee’s counsel made the following statement:

“Now, this case comes to you from an award made by the Industrial Accident Board in Austin, Texas. The Industrial Accident Board sits; they hear whatever they consider appropriate. They make an award and then either side has the right to appeal that award from the Industrial Accident Board. In this case Mr. Jones and his insurance company, are appealing because they were unhappy as they have every legal right, they’re appealing the judgment and decision of the Industrial Accident Board in Austin. * * *”

We are of the opinion that, considering the record as a whole in this case, this disclosure of the Board’s award presents reversible error.

It has long been the settled rule in Texas that the admission of the award of the Industrial Accident Board into the record is [22]*22error. Tanner v. Texas Employers’ Insurance Association, 438 S.W.2d 395 (Tex.Civ. App.—Beaumont 1969, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Bickham, 138 Tex. 128, 157 S.W.2d 356 (1941); Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Thurmond, 527 S.W.2d 180 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1975, writ ref’d n. r. e.). Questions presented, then, are whether there was a waiver of the error in this case and whether the matter is in fact reversible error.

The record reflects that prior to the voir dire examination of the panel, Appellant presented its motion in limine informing the Court that counsel for Plaintiff had stated that he intended to inform the jury panel that the case was presented to the Industrial Accident Board, that the Board had made an award, and that the Defendant/Insurance Company had appealed. This, the Appellant asked the Court not to permit. The Court did not rule on the motion in limine, but carried it along with the case. By agreement of counsel, and with permission of the Court, counsel for Appellant then dictated his objections in advance — “so as to avoid further prejudice of such comments in the presence of the jury.” Then, on voir dire, counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee made the statement above quoted. This was followed by a motion for mistrial by Defendant/Appellant. Appellee urges that the statement, if error, is curable, and any harmful effect could be eliminated by a trial judge’s instruction to the jury to disregard, and that Appellant, by failing to ask for such instructions, has waived the error. We are unable to agree that waiver occurred here where Appellant had, with permission of the Court and agreement of counsel, dictated his objections to the statement in advance and followed that with a motion for mistrial after the statement was made. A basis of the waiver rule is to prevent a party from having two bites at the same apple; if an argument is of a curable nature, an objection must be made promptly and instruction requested, or the error is waived; to do otherwise allows a party to gamble upon a favorable verdict, and then if disappointed, afterward seek a new trial. Tanner v. Texas Employer’s Insurance Association, supra. Appellant did not lay behind the log, but informed the Court of its objections, and we hold that no waiver occurred.

We turn now to the question of whether or not the statement by counsel presents reversible error. Most of our guidelines come from cases involving jury argument, but they are analogous to the situation before us in that they are both statements by counsel. The test is laid down in Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Haywood, 153 Tex. 242, 266 S.W.2d 856 (1954), and reaffirmed in Texas Sand Company v. Shield, 381 S.W.2d 48 (Tex.1964). In the Haywood case, the Supreme Court stated:

“ * * * The true test is the degree of prejudice flowing from the argument — whether the argument, considered in its proper setting, was reasonably calculated to cause such prejudice to the opposing litigant that a withdrawal by counsel or instruction by the court, or both, could not eliminate the probability that it resulted in an improper verdict. * *

In Texas Sand Company v. Shield, supra, the Court repeated that test and then laid down the rule:

“Each departure from this degree of ethical conduct, when properly objected to and preserved for review, requires this court, under the rules and the authorities, to examine the entire record to determine whether an argument was reasonably calculated to cause, and probably did cause, the rendition of an improper judgment. It seems that lawyers, as officers of the court, would refrain from injecting into a case matters that are entirely foreign to the issues involved and which could easily, under some situations, bring about a reversal.”

We have followed that rule in this case, and we conclude that reversible error is shown.

The questions presented for jury determination were the duration and extent of the injuries of the Appellee. There was no [23]*23dispute over the fact that the accident occurred and that an injury had resulted. It was stipulated that the Appellant had paid Appellee’s medical bills; much evidence was presented without objection as to the injuries received by the Appellee. Appellant made no denial of some of the injuries, but did contest the claim that they caused total and permanent disability; in other words, the true contest was the extent and duration of disability. In that situation, the disclosure that the insurance company was dissatisfied and unhappy with the award gave the jury the distinct impression that that award was for total and permanent disability; that could have influenced their determination of those very issues as presented to them by the Court’s Charge. While Appellee can point to much evidence as to injuries as such, that is a different story from the evidence presented as to whether the incapacity was total and/or whether such disability was permanent. As to each of the • questions of whether the disability was total and whether it was permanent, there is evidence pro and con.. The evidence is not decisive or compelling as to those issues. We conclude that the statement was such as was reasonably calculated to cause, and probably did cause, the rendition of an improper judgment.

Appellee relies on Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Bickham, supra, for his contention that the error, if any, was not reversible error. There, the plaintiff’s attorney on voir dire read a portion of the pleadings that said: “ ‘This suit was brought by Federal Underwriters Exchange to set aside an award made by the Industrial Accident Board.’ ” Unlike the case before us, the main issue in the case was not the extent and duration of the injury sustained by the employee, for it was a death action.

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Related

TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INS. ASS'N v. Haywood
266 S.W.2d 856 (Texas Supreme Court, 1954)
Texas General Indemnity Co. v. Scott
253 S.W.2d 651 (Texas Supreme Court, 1952)
Texas Employers Ins. Ass'n v. Poe
253 S.W.2d 645 (Texas Supreme Court, 1952)
Texas Sand Company v. Shield
381 S.W.2d 48 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)
Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Thurmond
527 S.W.2d 180 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Tanner v. TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASSOCIATION
438 S.W.2d 395 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1969)
Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Bickham
157 S.W.2d 356 (Texas Supreme Court, 1941)
Associated Employers Lloyds v. Landin
205 S.W.2d 662 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
567 S.W.2d 20, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industrial-underwriters-insurance-co-v-delgadillo-texapp-1978.