Southern Underwriters v. Weldon

142 S.W.2d 574, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 595
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 27, 1940
DocketNov. 11059
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 142 S.W.2d 574 (Southern Underwriters v. Weldon) 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
Southern Underwriters v. Weldon, 142 S.W.2d 574, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 595 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

MONTEITH, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal in a compensation suit brought by defendant in error, M. B. Weldon, who will be referred to as appel-lee, against plaintiffs in error, Southern Underwriters and Underwriters Employers Casualty Company, referred to herein as appellants, to set aside an award of the Industrial Accident Board and to recover compensation for total and permanent incapacity alleged to have been the result of an injury sustained by him on June 24, 1938, in the course of his employment with S. J. Moore & Sons, who carried compensation insurance with appellants.

Appellants answered by general demurrer, . exceptions, and a general denial.

In answer to special issues submitted, the jury found that appellee sustained an injury to his back on or about June 24, 1938, as the result of a strain received while working with road machinery for S. J. Moore & Sons; that he was totallj' incapacitated; that such total incapacity was permanent and not temporary; that it was not partial; and that it was not solely caused by an arthritic condition which existed prior to appellee’s injury.

Based upon the answers to said special issues, judgment was rendered in favor of appellee against appellants for 401 weeks compensation at $20 per week, reduced to a lump sum.

Appellants contend that no proper predicate was laid for the admission of certain X-ray photographs introduced by appellee, for the alleged reason that it was not shown that they were properly taken or correctly developed, or that they correctly portrayed the subject matter thereof.

The record shows that some four months after appellee’s alleged injury he consulted Dr. J. C. Hull, who later took X-ray photographs of appellee to further study his injuries. Six of these photographs were introduced by appellee. Appellants objected to the introduction of photographs marked Exhibits 1 to 4, inclusive, on the ground that they were irrelevant and immaterial and without proper predicate being laid to admit them. This objection was overruled, to which appellants excepted.

Dr. Hull testified that all of said photographs were taken 'in his presence and that he saw them developed; that his training called for him to examine X-ray photographs and to interpret them; that he had done this in the treatment of patients, and that it was part of his medical training, and that he, could interpret the photographs and tell the jury what they showed. He afterwards testified that the photographs showed an osteo-arthritis in the last lumbar vertebrae and sacrum, and in the articulation upon the sacrum, and that this indicated osteo-arthritis in the sacro-illiac region.

Appellants objected to the introduction of X-ray photographs marked Exhibits 5 [576]*576and 6, for the reason that there were no pleadings to support them and that they had not been sufficiently identified, and that no proper predicate had been laid to make them admissible, or to authorize a reading or introduction of them. This objection was overruled. No exception is shown by the record to have been reserved by appellants to the court’s action in overruling the objection. Dr. Hull testified that he saw the arthritis in Exhibits 5 and 6, as in previous pictures. These facts were later brought out more fully by appellants in their, cross-examination of Dr. Hull.

Under the above facts, we think that a proper predicate was laid by appel-lee for the introduction of said X-ray photographs, and that the objections and exceptions made to the testimony in reference to them were not sufficient to apprise the court or opposing counsel of the grounds on which the objections were based.

' It is the general rule in this state that, where a party objects to the introduction of exhibits, he must state clearly and specifically the grounds upon which his objections are based at the time the exhibits are offered in evidence, so that the objections may be understood by the court and so that opposing counsel may have an opportunity of removing the objections made thereto, if they are capable of being removed, by other evidence. Our courts have further held that an objection to the introduction of testimony is waived on appeal by the failure to state the grounds on which the objection is based, and that failure to except to the action of thfe court in overruling objections to the introduction of testimony constitutes a waiver thereof. Campbell v. Paschall, 132 Tex. 226, 121 S.W.2d 593; Bankers Life v. Butler, Tex.Civ.App., 122 S.W.2d 1077; Garza v. Wilkinson, Tex.Civ.App., 129 S.W.2d 839.

Further, it is uniformly held that X-ray photographs of parts of the body are properly admitted in evidence when it is shown that the witness personally took or assisted in taking them, that they were taken in accordance with recognized standards of taking such photographs, and that they had been continuously in the possession of the witness. Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Cost, 132 Tex. 299, 123 S.W.2d 332; Houston & T. C. Ry. Co. v. Shapard, 54 Tex.Civ.App. 596, 118 S.W. 596; Utilities Indemnity Exchange v. Burks et al., Tex.Civ.App., 7 S.W.2d 1112.

Appellants assign error in the failure and refusal of the trial court, upon their request, to define the term “permanent” and to incorporate the definition in the court’s charge.

This question has been recently decided in the case of Metropolitan Ins. Co. v. Wann, Tex.Civ.App., 81 S.W.2d 298, in which it was held that it was not necessary to define the word “permanently” in connection with a special issue submitted to the jury. The court in its opinion stated that such term is not defined by any statute and is one in common use and of well known meaning, and that therefore a definition of it was not necessary to enable the jury to properly pass upon and render a verdict on .such issue within the requirement of Art. 2189 of the Revised Statutes. This holding was based on the opinion in the case of Bankers Lloyds v. Pollard, Tex.Civ.App., 40 S.W.2d 859, in which a writ of error was refused by the Supreme Court, in which it was held that the court did not err in refusing to define the word “permanent”. Consolidated Underwriters v. Lee, Tex.Civ.App., 107 S.W.2d 482; Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Ray, Tex.Civ.App., 128 S.W.2d 80; Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Boyd, Tex.Civ.App., 121 S.W.2d 463; Federal Underwriters v. Simpson, Tex.Civ.App., 137 S.W.2d 132.

Appellants assign error in the action of the court in submitting to the jury special issue No.

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142 S.W.2d 574, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-underwriters-v-weldon-texapp-1940.