National Union Fire Insurance Co. v. Janes

687 S.W.2d 822, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6476
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1985
DocketNo. 08-84-00016-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 687 S.W.2d 822 (National Union Fire Insurance Co. v. Janes) 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
National Union Fire Insurance Co. v. Janes, 687 S.W.2d 822, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6476 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

SCHULTE, Justice.

This is a workers’ compensation case appeal taken from a judgment based on a six member jury verdict in the Ector County Court at Law. The jury found a forty percent permanent partial loss of use of Appellee’s right leg. The event complained of occurred due to the breaking of a temporary compression plate on the leg, placed there following a prior injury. We reverse and remand.

Appellee, Jerry Dean Janes, was first injured in February, 1981, in Mattoon, Illinois, while demonstrating snowmobiles for his then employer, Mattoon Lawn & Leisure. As a result of the accident, Appellee sustained bilateral open tibial fractures, knee injuries and a broken right femur. The present case concerns the fractured right femur. The fractured right femur was treated by the placing of a metal compression plate on the femur at the fracture site, by a Dr. McKechnie, an Illinois orthopedic surgeon. After this surgery, Appel-lee went back to work for Mattoon Lawn and Leisure for several months. Appellee then moved to Odessa where he obtained employment with the Western Company as a truck mechanic. On December 3, 1981, while Appellee was climbing onto a truck, he felt a “thud” in his right leg and it buckled. The compression plate attached to his femur had broken. Appellee continued working for the rest of his shift, approximately four hours, even though he was not able to bear weight on his right leg.

The following Sunday, Appellee went to Midland Memorial Hospital, where x-rays were taken and his right leg was immobilized. A couple of days later, Appellee was seen by a Dr. Cochran, an orthopedic surgeon in Midland, who recommended that the old plate be surgically removed and a new compression plate be put in its place. A fibrous union had formed as part of Appellee’s femur as a result of Appellee’s Illinois injury. The medical testimony was to the effect that a fibrous union results when the soft tissue damage is so extensive at the fracture site that a good bone connection cannot form.

Appellee brought suit against the Western Company’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier. At trial, the Appellant unsuccessfully moved for an instructed verdict. The jury found forty percent permanent partial loss of use of the right leg. Prior to the court rendering judgment on the verdict, the Appellant moved for judgment non obstante veredicto. The trial court overruled the motion and the Appellant perfected this appeal.

Appellant’s first point of error concerns the overruling of Appellant’s motion for instructed verdict because there was no probative evidence on the issue of harm or damage to the physical structure of Appel-lee’s body. Appellant’s second point urges error in the overruling of Appellant's motion for judgment non obstante veredicto because there was no probative evidence of harm or damage to the physical structure of Appellee’s body to support a jury finding [824]*824of injury. Finally Appellant’s third point asserts error in the entry of judgment for the Appellee because there was insufficient evidence on which to support a jury finding of injury and the finding is manifestly unjust.

Appellant’s first three points of error center on what constitutes injury under the workers’ compensation statute. The pertinent part of the controlling statute is contained in Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 8306, sec. 20 (Vernon Supp.1985) which states in part, “[wjherever the terms ‘Injury’ or ‘Personal Injury’ are used in the Workmans’ Compensation Laws of this State, such terms shall be construed to mean damage or harm to the physical structure of the body.” It is also well settled by the case law that the above definition of injury also includes aggravation of a preexisting injury resulting from such harm or damage. See: Gulf Insurance Company v. Gibbs, 534 S.W.2d 720, 724 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1976, writ ref’d n.r.e.)

The Texas Supreme Court in the case of Bailey v. American General Insurance Co., 154 Tex. 430, 279 S.W.2d 315, 318 (1955), stated:

The phrase “physical structure of the body”, as it is used in the statute, must refer to the entire body, not simply to the skeletal structure or to the circulatory system or to the digestive system. It refers to the whole, to the complex of perfectly integrated and interdependent bones, tissues and organs which function together by means of electrical, chemical and mechanical processes in a living, breathing, functioning individual. To determine what is meant by “physical structure of the body”, the structure should be considered that of a living person — not as a static, inanimate thing.

The Appellee asserts that the question of whether or not he sustained injury to his body is exclusively within the province of the jury, citing Dealers National Insurance Company v. Simmons, 421 S.W.2d 669, 675 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1967, writ ref’d n.r.e.). A more accurate reading of the case would reveal that it stands for the proposition that where there is sufficient evidence to warrant a finding of injury, then such a finding of sufficient evidence is exclusively within the province of the jury and the verdict will be upheld on appeal. Supra at 675.

Appellant’s first two points of error will be treated together. The standard of review on both “no evidence” points is the same. The Court of Appeals will view the evidence in a light most favorable to the finding of fact, considering only the evidence which supports the finding and disregarding any evidence to the contrary. Cartwright v. Canode, 106 Tex. 502, 507, 171 S.W. 696, 697 (1914). At the trial of the present case, three witnesses appeared — the Appellee, a Mrs. P. Martinez (a claims adjuster for American International Adjustment Co.), and Dr. Jerry Cochran. The testimony of the Appellee was that when the plate broke, he suffered great pain and swelling and he felt like he had suffered damage to his leg. The testimony was also that he had to “carry” his right leg by putting more weight on his left leg and his hands. Dr. Cochran testified, disregarding at this time any of his testimony to the contrary, that when the plate broke, it aggravated the prior condition of Appel-lee’s leg. While mere pain is not compen-sable under the workers’ compensation statute, Continental Casualty Company v. Cook, 507 S.W.2d 283, 285 (Tex.Civ.App. —Houston [14th Dist.] 1974) reversed other grounds, 515 S.W.2d 261 (Tex.1974), there is probative evidence of swelling as well as the statement by Dr. Cochran of aggravation of previous injury. Such evidence would support a jury finding of injury as defined in the statute. Appellant’s first two points of error are overruled.

Appellant’s third point of error is that the trial court erred in entering judgment for Appellee because the evidence was factually insufficient to support the jury finding of injury and such finding was manifestly unjust and against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. [825]

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Bluebook (online)
687 S.W.2d 822, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-union-fire-insurance-co-v-janes-texapp-1985.