Loyd Elec. Co., Inc. v. Millett

767 S.W.2d 476, 1989 WL 34881
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 8, 1989
Docket04-87-00466-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 767 S.W.2d 476 (Loyd Elec. Co., Inc. v. Millett) 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
Loyd Elec. Co., Inc. v. Millett, 767 S.W.2d 476, 1989 WL 34881 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION

REEVES, Justice.

Loyd Electric Company (Loyd) appeals a judgment finding it to be liable in negligence and strict liability in tort for injuries to Henry Millett (Millett) caused by an electrical explosion. We conditionally affirm the judgment of the trial court, and deny Millett’s crosspoint on the frivolity of Loyd’s appeal.

Loyd brings four points of error. The first two assert that the jury answer to Question No. Seven finding Millett not con-tributorily negligent is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. The third point complains of the refusal of the trial court to submit a charge to the jury as to contributory negligence of Mil-lett’s employer; the fourth urges a remit-titur.

On August 18, 1980, Millett was injured when a switchbox on which he was working exploded. The switchbox, also called a “safety disconnect,” contained two large, 440 volt cartridge-type fuses. This switch-box serviced a syntron motor located in a tunnel at a rock crushing plant. The tunnel contained a conveyor belt which carried rock to the crusher. The switchbox in question was mounted on an electrical panel designed, manufactured and installed by Loyd for Dean Word Construction Company, Millett’s employer.

On the day of the accident, when Millett arrived at work, he found the syntron tunnel had filled with water due to heavy rains the night before. From testimony it is clear the problem in the tunnel occurred whenever rainfall was heavy. Millett was the employee who consistently dealt with the problem. After surveying the situation, he checked in with his immediate supervisor, Tom Cook. Millett said Cook told him to get help and remove the water from the tunnel. Cook testified he told Millett to check the continuity of the magnet on the starter control box. This starter control [479]*479box is situated next to the disconnect switch box that exploded.

Millett, assisted by Albino Garcia, pulled the master switch to the syntron operations and set up a gasoline pump to remove the water. After the water was removed, Mil-lett turned the master switch back on in order to use heat lamps to dry the motors.

Millett testified the next step, in what he termed “usual procedure” was to check the fuses in the switchbox by using a galvanometer, a device which measures the continuity and resistance of an electrical circuit. At this point, Millett and Garcia were joined by another Word employee, Mike Salas. Both men were with Millett when he checked the fuses.

They testified Millett knelt down in front of the switchbox. Garcia held the galvanometer. Millett tested the right fuse first. When Garcia said the check was good, Millett then positioned the testing wire to the left fuse. According to Millett, when he touched the wire to the left fuse, the box exploded. However, Salas testified that after checking the first fuse, Millett moved his hand up approximately three to four inches and touched the “hot” part of the box to cause the explosion. The explosion severely burned Millett’s hands and part of his neck. He was first taken to a local hospital and later transferred to the burn unit at Brook Army Medical Hospital.

FACTUAL INSUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In evaluating the evidence we will consider and weigh all the evidence and reverse only if the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Dyson v. Olin Corporation, 692 S.W.2d 456, 457 (Tex.1985).

Encompassed in the sufficiency point is Loyd’s contention that because Mil-lett sponsored Cook as a witness, Millett was bound by Cook’s testimony and could not impeach him. This has not been a rule of evidence since 1983 when TEX.R.CIV.EVID. 607 was written to read as follows:

The credibility of a witness may be attacked by any party, including the party who called him.

This civil rule is identical to TEX.R.CRIM.EVID. 607. In Stills v. State, 728 S.W.2d 422, 427 (Tex.App.-Eastland 1987, no pet.), the court outlined the history of the rule against impeaching one’s own witness and explained the rationale for the new rule. The Texas rule is patterned on FED.R.EVID. 607. The federal advisory committee commented on the new rule as follows:

The traditional rule against impeaching one’s own witness is abandoned as based on false premises. A party does not hold out his witness as worthy of belief, since he rarely has a free choice in selecting them (sic). Denial of the right leaves the party at the mercy of the witness and the adversary. Id.

Persuaded by this, we decide that Millett could attack Cook’s testimony.

Question No. 7 asked the jury to decide if Millett was contributorily negligent as to the accident. The jury found Millett not negligent in the following acts or omissions as charged by Loyd:

a. In using a galvanometer to test the fuses in the switch box.
b. In using a galvanometer to test the power in the switch box.
c. In failing to remove the fuses from the switch box before testing them.
d. In failing to use specially designed equipment which was provided by his employer for testing high voltage electrical equipment.
e. In turning the main disconnect switch on before testing the fuses.
f. In placing the wire being used with the galvanometer either on or close enough to the energized portion of the switch box to cause an electrical fire.

In our analysis of this point of error, we will first state the act and/or omission by which Loyd claims Millett was negligent. We will then outline and discuss the evidence presented to the jury.

Millett’s negligence in using a galvanometer to test fuses in the switchbox.

[480]*480 Millett’s negligence in failing to remove the fuses from the switchbox before testing them.

The jury heard Cook, Millett’s supervisor, testify he had, several years prior to the accident, instructed Millett to (1) disconnect the power source, (2) take the fuses out of the switchbox, (3) check them with a volt meter, and (4) put the fuses back in the switchbox. The jury also heard Cook testify he had, on occasion, watched Millett check the fuses. Cook knew Millett used a galvonometer to check the fuses while the fuses were in place. Cook further testified that he, himself, had checked fuses, with a galvonometer, while the fuses were in place.

Garcia, Millett’s helper for at least two years, testified he always held the galvo-nometer while Millett ran the check. Garcia said he had always used a galvonometer and that Millett checked the fuses while they were in the switchbox. Ramon Sandoval, another Word employee, testified that he had used a galvonometer to check fuses but he always took them out of the switch-box first.

Therefore, the jury heard evidence that it was a commonly accepted practice to use a galvonometer to check the fuses and it was a common practice to check the fuses in place in the switchbox.

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Bluebook (online)
767 S.W.2d 476, 1989 WL 34881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loyd-elec-co-inc-v-millett-texapp-1989.