Scoggins v. Curtiss Taylor

219 S.W.2d 445, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 901
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 20, 1948
DocketNo. 11873.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 219 S.W.2d 445 (Scoggins v. Curtiss Taylor) 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
Scoggins v. Curtiss Taylor, 219 S.W.2d 445, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 901 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

MURRAY Justice.

This suit was instituted in the 107th District Court of Cameron County, Texas, by E. T. Scoggins, suing also as next friend of his two minor children, against Curtiss & Taylor, a partnership composed of S. Taylor and J. D. Curtiss, and William Richard Bridges, the driver of a semitrailer banana truck, seeking -to recover damages growing out of a collision between an automobile being driven by E. T. Scog-gins and a truck owned by the defendants. The damages sought were for personal injuries suffered by E. T. Scoggins and the death of his wife, Mrs. E. T. Scoggins; also damages to his automobile. The collision occurred twelve miles north of Raymond-ville on the State highway leading to Kings-ville. The cause was submitted to a jury upon special issues and upon the jury’s answers judgment was rendered for the defendants.

From this judgment E. T. Scoggins and his children have prosecuted this appeal.

The principal question here raised is that of jury misconduct. At the hearing on the motion for a new trial much evidence was heard. At the request of -appellants, the trial judge made and filed findings of fact and conclusions of law relating to the alleged jury misconduct.

In answer to the special issues submitted to the jury, the following findings had been made, to-wit:

“1. That it was possible for appellees’ driver to have parked the truck and trailer off the paved portion of the highway prior to -the accident, but that such failure was not negligence.

“2. That immediately before the collision, the appellees’ truck and trailer were standing on the highway without lights; but that the failure to have lights burning on -the truck and trailer immediately before the collision was not negligence.

“3. That the appellees did not fail to have a flare burning to the rear of the truck and trailer immediately before the collision.

“4. That the failure of the appellees to have an attendant stationed back of the truck-trailer immediately before the collision was not negligence.

“5. That the appellant Scoggins was driving his automobile at an excessive -and dangerous rate of speed and that such was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision in question.

“6. That the appellant Scoggins was driving at such rate of speed that he could not stop his automobile within the range of his headlights and such was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision in question.

“7. That -the failure of the appellant Scoggins to slow down his automobile while passing another vehicle -about one-half to three-fourths of a mile from the point of the collision was not negligence.

“8. That the act of the appellant Scog-gins in operating his automobile with his lights on low -beam did not constitute negligence.

“9. That the appellant Scoggins did not fail to maintain a proper lookout.

“10. That the appellant Scoggins failed to have his vehicle under proper control at the time and -place in question and such failure -was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision in question.

“11. That the failure of the appellant Scoggins to -turn his automobile to the left of appellees’ vehicle was not negligence.

“12. That the -collision in question was not the result of an unavoidable accident

*447 “13. In response to special issues inquiring as to damages sustained as a .result of the death of Mrs. Effie Scoggins and injuries to E. T. Scoggins as the direct and proximate result of the negligence of the appellees, the jury answered ‘None’.”

It is thus seen that the jury absolved defendants of all acts of negligence inquired about and found the appellant E. T. Scog-gins guilty of contributory negligence in three particulars.

The findings of fact and conclusions of law which were made by the trial judge at the request of appellants relating to the alleged misconduct of the jury are as follows:

“Findings of Fact

“1. The Court finds that after the jury had been selected and the pleadings had been read and part of the evidence had been introduced, and at the end of -the first or second day of the trial, the jurors went to ■their respective homes for the night, and one juror, Ed Dvorak, a contractor who was clearing about 5,000 acres of land for James H. Calloway, had a conversation with James H. Calloway about such clearing. The Juror Dvorak knew that Calloway was a partner with the Plaintiff, E. T. Scoggins, in farming land on the Lincoln Ranch. The juror Dvorak disclosed to Calloway that he, Dvorak, was a juror in this case and Calloway at that time stated in substance to the juror, Dvorak, that E. T. Scoggins had insurance on both his wife and his car but that didn’t bring back the life of his wife. The Court finds that the measure of damage to Plaintiff’s automobile was not submitted to the jury.

“2. The Court finds that after the jury retired to consider its verdict and before any of the issues had been answered, the juror Oscar Bounds heard the Juror Pfeif-fer say in substance that he considered the testimony of the witness Plaskett (a witness for Plaintiffs) was bribed testimony.

“3. The Court finds that a-t approximately 3:00 o’clock in the morning, when the lights were turned out for the first time in the jury room and when the juror Pfeiffer had moved into the toilet adjoining the jury room in order to complete his (Pfeiffer’-s) reading, and when another juror went into the toilet, the juror Bounds again heard the juror Pfeiffer remark in substance that he considered the testimony of the witness Plaskett to be bribed testimony.

“4. The Court finds that before any of the issues were answered by the jury, the juror Bounds heard 'the juror Ratliff state in substance that the Plaintiff E. T. Scog-gins was not a poor man and had plenty and did not need any consideration out of this lawsuit. The Court finds that during the trial of the case, the Plaintiff E. T. Scoggins testified that he owned about 271 acres of land and was farming approximately 1800 acres; the Plaintiff E. T. Scog-gins and other witnesses testified in substance that E. T. Scoggins was considered to be a large-scale farmer.

“5. The Court finds that after the juror Pfeiffer had stated, in the presence of the juror Bounds, that he considered the testimony of the witness Plaskett to be bribed testimony, the juror Pfeiffer then said he wasn’t going to agree on anything that would be in favor of Mr. Scoggins.

“6. The Court finds the juror Gibson, while the jury was deliberating and before any issues had been answered, heard the juror Pfeiffer say in substance that he, Pfeiffer, f.elt that the witness Plaskett had been bribed and that he, Pfeiffer, would refuse to give any .credence whatever to any testimony that the witness Plaskett might give.

“7. The Court finds that the juror Gibson heard one juror, in the deliberations in the jury room, state in substance'that he 'had personal knowledge as to whether it was possible or impossible to get off the highway at the point where the accident •happened and he knew it was impossible to get off the highway at this place.

“8.

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219 S.W.2d 445, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scoggins-v-curtiss-taylor-texapp-1948.