Railway Express Agency v. Bannister

46 S.W.2d 372
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 27, 1932
DocketNo. 7644
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 46 S.W.2d 372 (Railway Express Agency v. Bannister) 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
Railway Express Agency v. Bannister, 46 S.W.2d 372 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

BLAIR, J.

Appellee sued appellant for damages for personal injuries, alleging tliat his right hip bone was broken and right hip injured on or about November 7, 1928, by being struck with an express truck which he was placing for unloading express, while in the employ of the American Railway Express Company, and because of its negligence in the manner, method, and way it required the work as undertaken by appellee to be done. Appellant filed a general denial and pleaded that, 'if appellee was injured, it was not on November 7, 1928, but- on Eebruary 16, 1928, when his motorcycle collided with a truck on a public highway, and while he was not in the employ of the American Railway Express Company. Judgment was for appellee for $863; hence this appeal.

It was agreed that under the terms of the transfer of the property of the American Railway Express Company to appellant Railway Express Company, the latter became liable for any damages that might be due ap-pellee for his injuries. In this connection ap-pellee alleged and proved that at the time of his injury the American Railway Express Company, hereinafter referred to as appellant, was one of the class of employers coming under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Aet (Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 8306 et seq.), but was not a subscriber under the terms of that aet. Appellant did not deny these allegations specifically, and did not plead that appellee assumed the risks ordinarily incident to his employment; and, since appellant failed to comply with the terms of the aet, it is therefore not entitled to urge its propositions 3, 4, and 5, to the effect that, if appellee received any injuries while in the employ of appellant, they “were suffered from one of the risks ordinarily incident to his service.” Pullman Co. v. Ransaw (Tex. Com. App.) 254 S. W. 763; American Railway Express Co. v. Truede (Tex. Civ. App.) 246 S. W. 1088; Breckenridge Storage Co. v. Hutchens (Tex. Civ. App.) 260 S. W. 684. And under the holding in those pases it is only necessary for an injured employee to show, where his employer is subject to the Workmen’s Compensation Act and has failed to comply with its terms, that the employer was negligent; and that such negligence was a proximate cause of his injury.

As specific ground of negligence appellee alleged as follows: “That he was engaged in the performance of his duties in and around the passenger station of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Pe Railway Company at Temple, Texas; that while so employed his duties in that behalf, required him to do and perform the services usually performed by employees in like service, which service was the loading and unloading of express into and off of trains and pulling and operating by hand the trucks and hand-wagons furnished by the defendant for the purpose-of carrying express packages from the station to the train, and from the train to the station; that on or about the said 7th day of November, 1928, it then and there became, and was the duty of the plai'ntiff as such employee to move by hand and man-power six of said trucks and hand wagons, to a place that would be, convenient for the unloading of .express from an incoming train, and in the discharge of his duty as he understood it, in the usual and ordinary way the work was done, and directed to be done by the said American Railway Express Company, the plaintiff fastened the said trucks and hand-wagons together, which said trucks and hand-wagons were of great weight, and proceeded to pull them to the place above mentioned; while so engaged in the performance of the work just described, and while himself in the exercise of reasonable and ordinary care, when he attempted to stop said trucks, by reason of the grade and of .the weight of said trucks, the truck nearest to the plaintiff was caused to roll into and against the plaintiff, with great force, striking him on the right hip, and he thereby sustained the injuries complained of.”

In response to special issues the jury found, in substance, as follows:

1. That appellee was injured while working for appellant, on or about November 7, 1928.
2. That appellee, at the time of his injuries, was doing the work by the methods adopted by appellant for the conduct of its business.
3. That, in adopting such methods for the conduct of its business, appellant was guilty of negligence.
4. That such negligence was a proximate cause of the injuries sustained by appellee.

Appellant contends by its propositions 1 and 2 that the above findings of the jury are not supported by the evidence (1) because the evidence shows that it was physically impossible for appellee to have been injured in the manner and at the time alleged; and (2) because the evidence failed to show that appellant had established the particular method of doing the work undertaken by appellee, and failed to show that specific directions were given as to any particular manner of moving and handling empty trucks by appel-lee. Neither contention is sustained. In passing upon these questions this court can, consider only the evidence favorable to the findings of the jury.

The evidence sustaining the jury’s findings that appellee was injured while working for appellant and at the time and place alleged is as follows: Appellee first entered the service of appellant in 1920, as transfer man at Temple, and held that position for eight months, when he became express messenger for appellant, running on trains out of Tern-[374]*374pie. He held the latter position until he met with an accident on February 16, 1928, when his motorcycle collided with a truck on a public highway, and from which he received injuries necessitating the amputation of his left leg between the knee and ankle. This accident was in no manner connected with his employment with- appellant. Appellee’s left leg was amputated in the Santa Fé Hospital at Temple, where he remained about twenty-five days, and that thereafter he used an artificial limb on his left leg. He was not thereafter regularly employed until he re-entered the service of appellant as transfer man, the position he first held, on October 24, 1928. At the time he collided with the truck his left leg was struck, but he was not thrown from his motorcycle, but himself turned it into a ditch and he fell off the motorcycle on his left side. No injury except his crushed left leg was noticed by either himself or the physicians who attended him at the time his left leg was amputated. Appellee testified that-he received his injuries to his right hip on November 7, 1928, while in the employ of appellant, and as follows: “I received my injury in attempting to stop these six empty trucks which I had pulled from the Santa Fe depot to the point where I wanted to stop them for unloading No. 5. I had already reached the point. I received the injury by getting in front of trucks and pushing back on them to stop them. A truck ran against me and in some manner broke my hip.”

Immediately after receiving this injury ap-pellee walked back to the express office, and told the agent in charge that he had hurt himself, and called a taxi and went to a doctor’s office, complaining of his right hip and back hurting him. He then returned and did such work as he could in getting express out of the office. He worked the following day; and on the next called for relief help, which was given on that and probably three other days before November 15, 1928, when he had to resign his position because his right leg pained him so badly that he could not do the work required of him.

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Bluebook (online)
46 S.W.2d 372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/railway-express-agency-v-bannister-texapp-1932.