Insurors Indemnity & Ins. Co. v. Associated Indemnity Corp.

162 S.W.2d 666, 139 Tex. 286, 1942 Tex. LEXIS 233
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 29, 1942
DocketNo. 7910.
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 162 S.W.2d 666 (Insurors Indemnity & Ins. Co. v. Associated Indemnity Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Insurors Indemnity & Ins. Co. v. Associated Indemnity Corp., 162 S.W.2d 666, 139 Tex. 286, 1942 Tex. LEXIS 233 (Tex. 1942).

Opinion

CRITZ, Justice.

This is a compensation insurance case. On March 10, 1940, after due notice to all parties, the Industrial Accident Board made an order awarding Emmett L. Craig compensation at the rate of $20 per week for an indefinite period of not exceeding 401 weeks from March 21, 1939. The order awarding such compensation determined that Associated Indemnity Corporation and Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company should be jointly and severally liable to Craig for the compensation above mentioned. Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company filed this suit in the Sixty-first District Court of Harris County, Texas, against Craig and Associated Indemnity Corporation, to set aside the above award. The case was tried in the district court with the aid of a jury. As we understand the record, Craig assumed the laboring oar in the trial in that court. At the close of the testimony in chief, Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company moved for an instructed verdict in its favor. Such motion was overruled. At the conclusion of all the testimony, each of the above-named insurance carriers moved for an instructed verdict in its favor. Both motions were overruled, and the case was submitted to the jury on special issues. The jury answered these issues in such a way as to entitle Craig to a judgment against Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company. The effect of the verdict was to absolve Associated Indemnity Corporation of any liability to either of the other parties. The verdict of the jury was received and the jury discharged.

In due time Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company filed a motion for judgment in its favor, non obstante veredicto. In this motion such company merely moved the court “to render judgment herein that cross plaintiff, Emmett L. Craig, take nothing by his suit and cross action against this cross defendant, and that this cross defendant have and recover all costs of suit, * *

In due time Emmett L. Craig, in writing, moved the trial court to enter judgment in conformity with the verdict of the jury.

After due notice and hearing on the motion of Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company to enter judgment in its favor, non obstante veredicto, the trial court sustained the same, and entered judgment accordingly, after finding that certain pertinent findings of the jury were without any support in the evidence.

After sustaining the motion of Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company to enter judgment in its favor, non obstante vere-dicto, the trial court then proceeded to enter judgment in favor of Craig and against the Associated Indemnity Corporation. This judgment was entered in the face of the fact that the findings of the jury were favorable to the Associated Indemnity Corporation, and in spite of the fact that no motion was filed by either Craig or Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company to enter same.

Both Craig and Associated Indemnity Corporation in open court excepted to the above judgment, and gave notice of appeal —all in due form of law. Both appeals were duly perfected to the Court of Civil Appeals for the First District at Galveston.

On final hearing in the Court of Civil Appeals that court reversed the judgment of the trial court, and rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict of the jury. Simply stated, the Court of Civil Appeals rendered judgment for Craig and against Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company for the full amount of compensation due Craig, as found by the jury. The Court of Civil Appeals rendered judgment *668 that Craig take nothing against Associated Indemnity Corporation. 153 S.W.2d 533. The case is before the Supreme Court on writ of error granted on application of Insurors Indemnity and Insurance Company.

In perfecting their appeals to the Court of Civil Appeals neither Craig nor Associated Indemnity Corporation filed a motion for new trial in the district court. Plaintiff in error, by proper assignments, contends that the Court of Civil Appeals therefore erred in considering certain assignments of error advanced by Craig and Associated Indemnity Corporation. In this connection, plaintiff in error contends that such assignments do not involve fundamental error. A decision of the above-indicated question of law necessitates a construction or interpretation of old Rule 71a. This is because this case was tried and appealed prior to the adoption of our new Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. We here quote old Rule 71a: “71a. In all cases tried under Title 42, Chapter 6, or under Title 42, Chapters 8 and 11, or under any other provisions of the R.C.S.1925, where parties desire to appeal from a judgment of the trial court or to sue out a writ of error, and said cases having been tried before the court with a jury, on a general charge or on special issues, and the judgment of the court is rendered five days or more before the adjournment of the court for the term, or when, upon request or for any other reason, the court continues the term so as to cover a period of five days from the rendition of a judgment, a motion for new trial shall be filed. In fact, it is the object of this rule to require a motion for new trial to be filed as a prerequisite to an appeal in all cases, unless the error complained of is fundamental, or the case is tried before the court without a jury, or a peremptory instruction is given in the case, or the appeal is based upon some error arising after the action of the trial court upon the motion for new trial, or unless there is not full five days’ time from the rendition of the judgment to the adjournment of the court for the term.”

A reading of the above rule will disclose that it required a motion for new trial as a prerequisite to having assigned errors passed on in appeals to the courts of civil appeals, in all cases tried under “Title 42, Chapter 6, or under Title 42, Chapters 8 and 11, or under any other provisions of the R.C.S.1925,” with certain exceptions. These exceptions were:

1. Cases in which final judgment was rendered less than five days before the adjournment of court fur the term. This exception did not apply if the court continued the term “so as to cover a period of five days from the rendition of the judgment.”
2. Cases involving fundamental error.
3. Cases tried before the court without a jury.
4. Cases in which a peremptory instruction was given.
5. Cases in which the appeal was based upon some error arising after the action of the court upon the motion for new trial.

It is evident that this case was tried before a jury, within the meaning of the above rule. Jones v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 131 S.W.2d 776, writ dismissed — correct judgment. It follows that in this case the appellants were before the court of civil appeals without assignments of error, except those which were fundamental, unless it can be said that the term of the Sixty-First District Court of Harris County, Texas, ended less than five days after the rendition of this judgment, within the meaning of Rule 71a, supra. It is the contention of the defendants in error Craig and Associated Indemnity Corporation that such was the case in this instance. The plaintiff in error contends to the contrary.

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162 S.W.2d 666, 139 Tex. 286, 1942 Tex. LEXIS 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/insurors-indemnity-ins-co-v-associated-indemnity-corp-tex-1942.