Northwestern National Casualty Co. v. Swanson

680 S.W.2d 57, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 24, 1984
DocketNo. 14179
StatusPublished

This text of 680 S.W.2d 57 (Northwestern National Casualty Co. v. Swanson) 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
Northwestern National Casualty Co. v. Swanson, 680 S.W.2d 57, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6738 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

QUENTIN KEITH, Justice (Retired).

The defendant below has perfected a limited appeal from an adverse judgment rendered after a jury trial of a workers’ compensation case. The basic contention of appellant, set out in six points of error, is that the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support the jury finding that plaintiff’s injury resulted in permanent partial incapacity. We do not find merit in the contentions advanced and affirm the judgment of the trial court for the reasons now to be stated.

Plaintiff was a licensed vocational nurse whose employer provided home nursing services for persons who needed such care in their homes. As such, she drove her own automobile to the homes of her patients and there rendered her services. Plaintiff testified that she injured herself while reaching into the backseat of her car to get a medical bag and a pair of scales she was going to use in treating and exam[58]*58ining her next patient. She said that the injury was to her right arm, extending into the shoulder and down her right side. An orthopedic surgeon diagnosed her injury as “adhesive capsulitis.” She also received treatment from a licensed physical therapist, the only expert witness who testified at trial.

The defendant paid compensation and medical costs prior to the litigation but now contends that the finding of permanent partial incapacity was not established by the testimony before the jury. While we have the office records of the physician, he did not appear at the trial. His final report to the insurer noted a five per cent “residual physical impairment of the right shoulder” but said that she could return to her work activities “with the restrictions of no heavy lifting and would be restricted from her usual driving habits.”

Contrary to these opinions, plaintiff testified that she was unable to do the usual tasks of her job which required her to lift and turn patients in their beds and to move them about as she bathed and dressed them. Her counsel has extracted from the record a number of ordinary daily tasks she said that she could not perform. We list these in the order and manner which they are presented to us in plaintiffs brief:

9. Mrs. Swanson can’t open a pickle jar.
10. She can’t tie an apron in the back.
11. Or operate a zipper.
12. Or open or close a car door.
13. Mrs. Swanson can’t get up in her son’s pick-up truck.
14. She can’t tie her shoes, most of the time.
15. Mrs. Swanson can’t drive her car or any other standard shift car.
16. Mrs. Swanson can’t run the vacuum cleaner.
17. She can’t bring in a medium size bag of groceries.
18. Mrs. Swanson can’t put up her hair or style her hair.
19. She can’t reach any distance to do anything of any nature that would require any stress on the shoulder.
20. She couldn’t turn over in bed from her right side or get off of her back or her right shoulder and raise herself with her right arm.
21. Mrs. Swanson was not able to drive her regular car.
22. She can’t roll the passenger window up or down.
23. She can’t get in and out of the car.
24. Mrs. Swanson can’t reach up with her right arm to move the sun visor, up or down or across or whatever.
25. She can’t get glasses down out of the kitchen cabinets.
26. Mrs. Swanson can’t pick things up off the floor.
27. It takes both hands for her to open the refrigerator at home.

The long listing of household chores which plaintiff cannot accomplish serves to strengthen her contention that she is also unable to perform the usual tasks assigned to her job by her employer. In passing upon the contentions now advanced by the carrier, we will follow the usual rules laid down for our guidance, remembering always that the jury is the exclusive judge of the facts proved, the credibility of the witnesses, and the weight to be given their testimony. Benoit v. Wilson, 150 Tex. 273, 239 S.W.2d 792, 796 (1951). Likewise, we apply the rule enunciated in Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965); In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660 (1952). It is axiomatic that the jury has the duty to consider all of the evidence presented to be probative and competent, and by its answers to the several special issues, it has found that the plaintiff’s injuries resulted in her permanent incapacity. We find the evidence supporting such findings to be legally and factually sufficient to support the answers. Points one and two, urging “no evidence” points and points three, and four, urging great weight and preponderance of the evidence points are all overruled.

[59]*59A troublesome incident in this case stems from the fact that during her recuperation from her injury, plaintiff learned that she was afflicted with incurable cancer. This fact was made known to the trial judge early in the trial, in discussing the motion in limine filed by one of the parties. At that time, the judge advised the lawyers that cancer had nothing to do with the suit, but was likely “to get into evidence” and that it was not to be considered by the jury for any purpose.

By point five appellant* now contends that the trial court erred in overruling the motion for new trial because plaintiff brought the prejudicial subject of cancer into the case. The factual base for such a claim is rather tenuous being based upon a remark alleged to have been made by plaintiff’s counsel, in his opening statement to the jury:

I was surprised during Voir Dire examination by Mr. Phillips [defense counsel] when the subject came up about cancer. Until that time, I thought we were under the admonition not to speak of it and just try this on the facts of the shoulder injury ...

Defense counsel made no objection to the remark of counsel nor did he seek any relief at the time. Instead, he made his own opening statement, responding to the remark on cancer by telling the jury that it was plaintiffs counsel who had filed the motion in limine and he could not have been surprised that a mention of cancer had been made.

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Related

In Re King's Estate
244 S.W.2d 660 (Texas Supreme Court, 1951)
Bailey v. Travelers Insurance Co.
383 S.W.2d 562 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)
Benoit v. Wilson
239 S.W.2d 792 (Texas Supreme Court, 1951)
Garza v. Alviar
395 S.W.2d 821 (Texas Supreme Court, 1965)
Roberts v. Dallas Railway & Terminal Company
276 S.W.2d 575 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)
National Life & Accident Ins. v. Sanchez
281 S.W. 891 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1926)

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Bluebook (online)
680 S.W.2d 57, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwestern-national-casualty-co-v-swanson-texapp-1984.