Lloyds Casualty Co. v. Meredith

63 S.W.2d 1051
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 26, 1933
DocketNo. 2382
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 63 S.W.2d 1051 (Lloyds Casualty Co. v. Meredith) 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
Lloyds Casualty Co. v. Meredith, 63 S.W.2d 1051 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

WALKER, Chief Justice.

This was an action for compensation under the provisions of our Workmen’s Compensation Act, filed by appellee, Mrs. May Meredith, against appellant, Lloyds Casualty Company, as an appeal from an adverse award of the Industrial Accident Board, with Joe Salhab, doing business in the city of Beaumont as the operator of a restaurant under the business name of White Kitchen Café, as the employer, appellee, May Meredith, one of Salhab’s waitresses, as employee, and appellant, Lloyds Casualty Company, as the insurance carrier. It was the contention of appel-lee that on May 9, 1930, while in the due course of her employment and in the due discharge of her duties as a waitress, she accidentally slipped and fell upon the concrete floor of the kitchen of the café “with suddenness and great force, thereby seriously and permanently injuring her spine and the inerves of her spinal column and the nerves running from and to said spinal column (the exact nature of said injury being unknown to plaintiff, for which reason she is unable to plead the same more definitely) as a result of which she has suffered continuous pain and general weakness of such a nature as to be unable to work and earn money from the date of said injury up to the present time.” On these allegations of injury she prayed for compensation as for total permanent incapacity and in the alternative for partial incapacity., The answer of appellant was sufficient in all respects to support its propositions of error advanced on this appeal. Upon the verdict of a jury appellant was given judgment for permanent partial incapacity for three hundred weeks at the rate of $20 per week.

By its first four propositions appellant complains that the trial court erred in refusing to sustain its pleas in abatement and of want of jurisdiction of the trial court. The facts under these propositions are as follows: Appellee was injured in the manner pleaded by her on May 9, 1930, at which time she #as a married woman. The Industrial Accident Board made its final award in her claim on April 7, 1931. In due time, on May 12, 1931, she filed her petition in the district court of Jefferson county, as an appeal from that award. Though a married woman, her husband was in no way a party to the.proceedings before the Industrial Accident Board, nor did appellee make him a party herein, but described herself in her original petition as a feme sole. On August 29, 1931, appel-lee’s husband was awarded a divorce from her on allegations of adultery. She knew of these allegations, but made no denial thereof, and, in fact, made no defense to the divorce suit. On the 13th day of November, 1931, her divorced husband assigned to appellee, by an instrument in writing, all his right, title, and claim in and to her cause of action, accruing to him as part of their community estate. Appellee was married in 1928, and shortly after the marriage her husband abandoned her and never afterwards made any contribution to her support nor claim of any kind to her wages. This ease was tried on March 9, 1932. On March 7, 1932, appellee filed her motion, alleging generally the facts as stated above, and prayed for an order of the court, permitting her to prosecute her suit as a feme sole, which was in all things granted. Appellant filed its plea in abatement and to the jurisdiction of the court, based on the facts above stated, advancing the propositions that the husband was a necessary party to appellee’s original petition to give the court jurisdiction of her appeal from the award of the Industrial Accident Board and, because he was not a party to the original proceeding, the court had no jurisdiction of her cause of action. As we construe the opinion of the Commission of Appeals in Jago v. Indemnity Ins. Co. of North America, 120 Tex. 204, 36 S.W.(2d) 980, appellant’s contention was sauarely before the court and affirmatively denied. The writer’s persona) views on this proposition were expressed in his dissenting opinion in the Jago Case, 12 S.W.(2d) 817, when it was pending before us. The opinion of the Commission of Appeals denied his theory of the law.

Though appellee was injured on May 9, 1930, her claim was not filed with the Industrial Accident Board until the 26th of December, 1930. She pleaded “good cause,” as defined by this court in Consolidated Underwriters v. Seale (Tex. Civ. App.) 237 S. W. 642, as an excuse for not filing her claim within the statutory period of six months. By its eighth proposition appellant asserts that the evidence was insufficient to raise the issue of “good cause”; by the ninth proposition, that the verdict of the jury on that issue was against the great and overwhelming weight of the testimony; and by the tenth proposition, that, on the evidence on that issue, the trial court was without jurisdiction to entertain appellee’s cause of action. These propositions are overruled. The following excerpts from appellee’s brief, which we adopt as a fair statement of her theory of [1053]*1053the facts, fully support the jury’s verdict and the jurisdiction of the court on the issue of “good cause”:

“From the cross examination of Mr. Joe Salhab, employer of plaintiff, it is evident that he knew of the alleged injury of May 9, 1930, and immediately thereafter informed plaintiff that Joe Lederer was agent for the defendant, Lloyds Casualty Company, and that said company was carrying compensation for him (Joe Salhab) at that time.
“Plaintiff testified that she went to the office of Mr. Joe Lederer within less than thirty days after the date of said injury and that Mr. Joe Lederer fixed up some papers for her and told her that he would attend to all the matters involved in her behalf and plaintiff further testified that she relied upon said promises of Mr. Joe Lederer.
“Plaintiff further testified that between May 9, 1930, and December 22, 1930, (the date upon which plaintiff’s claim for compensation was filed) that the condition of her health with respect to being able to attend to her business was bad and that she was in bed most of the time.”

The bad health of appellee, the fact that her employer knew of her injury immediately after it was received, her visit to the office of appellant’s agent, Mr. Lederer, and the promises made by him to her, as testified to by her, and her reliance on his promises, bring this case clearly within the rule announced by the following authorities: Texas Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Holloway (Tex. Civ. App.) 30 S.W.(2d) 921; Home Life & Accident Co. v. Orchard (Tex. Civ. App.) 227 S. W. 705; Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Price (Tex. Civ. App.) 300 S. W. 667, writ dismissed 117 Tex. 173, 300 S. W. 672; Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Fricker (Tex. Civ. App.) 16 S.W.(2d) 390.

We have examined with extreme care the -testimony on the issue of the extent of appellee’s injuries, and believe it is sufficient to support the verdict of permanent partial incapacity. It would serve no useful purpose to review this testimony in detail. Appellant’s testimony strongly controverted the issue, and the jury would have been entirely justified in accepting its theory of the facts; that is, in believing its witnesses as to the extent of appellee’s injuries. But the issue was for the jury; and as it clearly has support in the testimony introduced by appellee, we would not be justified in setting aside the verdict. On this issue the court did not err in excluding the following cross-examination of appellee:

“Q. Last September you were injured in another portion of your body, weren’t you? Your hand or your— A. I had dislocation of the finger, hut I don’t know what month it was.

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

Related

Scott v. Industrial Commission
593 P.2d 919 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1978)
TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASSOCIATION v. Vineyard
340 S.W.2d 106 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASSOCIATION v. Hudgins
294 S.W.2d 446 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1956)
Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. Swaim
278 S.W.2d 600 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1954)
Texas Employer's Ins. Ass'n v. Spivey
231 S.W.2d 760 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1950)
National Surety Co. v. Roberts
217 S.W.2d 894 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1949)
McWhorter v. Ætna Casualty & Surety Co.
52 F. Supp. 855 (S.D. Texas, 1943)
Maryland Casualty Co. v. Cobb
131 F.2d 603 (Fifth Circuit, 1942)
Williams v. Jacksonville Terminal Co.
315 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Texas Employers Ins. Ass'n v. Reed
150 S.W.2d 858 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1941)
Southern Underwriters v. Alvidrez
140 S.W.2d 355 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1940)
Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Boysen
123 S.W.2d 1016 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1939)
Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Patterson
123 S.W.2d 766 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)
Scott v. Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n
118 S.W.2d 354 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)
Texas Employers Ins. Ass'n v. Roberts
116 S.W.2d 417 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)
Continental Casualty Co. v. Canales
100 S.W.2d 797 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Hicks
94 S.W.2d 824 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Husted
94 S.W.2d 540 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
Amburn v. Employers' Liability Assur. Corp.
77 F.2d 749 (Fifth Circuit, 1935)
Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n v. Elliott
67 S.W.2d 898 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 S.W.2d 1051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lloyds-casualty-co-v-meredith-texapp-1933.