Sullivan v. Lydick Roofing Co. of Houston

378 S.W.2d 419, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2164
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 7, 1964
Docket7530
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 378 S.W.2d 419 (Sullivan v. Lydick Roofing Co. of Houston) 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
Sullivan v. Lydick Roofing Co. of Houston, 378 S.W.2d 419, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2164 (Tex. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

CHADICK, Chief Justice.

This is a common law tort action. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

United States Industrial Chemical Company contracted with M. W. Kellogg Company for the erection of a polyethylene plant in Harris County. Roofing a structure called the extruder building was subcontracted to Lydick Roofing Company of Houston, Inc. As construction progressed, Jack A. Sullivan, a field engineer employee of M. W. Kellogg Company, was instructed to make an inspection of steel work at the first platform above a silo structure. While ascending a series of ladders to reach the inspection point Mr. Sullivan stepped from the ladder to the roof of the extruder building. The roofing material under foot gave way, and he plunged to his death 24 feet below.

Mrs. Rita M. Sullivan, the surviving wife of Jack A. Sullivan, for herself and as Guardian of two minor children, together with the Guardians of the two minor children’s estates, brought suit against Lydick Roofing Company of Houston, Inc., to recover damages accruing to them as the result of Jack A. Sullivan’s death. The Traveler’s Insurance Company intervened as a plaintiff. The plaintiff’s pleadings and proof cast the Lydick Roofing Company of Houston, Inc., in the role of an occupier of premises, that is, the structure being roofed, and the deceased as an invitee thereon. Based on jury findings a take nothing judgment was entered in the trial court.

The plaintiffs undertook to prove that the defendant Lydick owed the decedent a duty to take reasonable precautions to warn or protect him from a condition of the ex-truder building roof constituting an unreasonable risk of harm. Issues were requested and submitted to determine the pertinent facts. In the plaintiffs’ series was an issue (Spec. Is. #2) by which plaintiffs proposed to establish as a fact that at the time the decedent stepped upon the roof he was unaware it would not support the weight of [421]*421a man. The jury answered, “We do not”. Defensively Lydick Roofing Company of Houston, Inc., secured the submission of an issue (Sp. I. 13) reading as follows:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Jack A. Sullivan, before his fall, knew or had been informed that the roof in question would not support the weight of a man?”

The jury answered:

“We do.”

To avoid lengthy and repetitious quotation, at this point reference is made to the opinion of the Supreme Court in Halepeska v. Callihan Interests, Inc., Tex., 371 S.W.2d 368, and the expressions it contains relative to the duty owed to an invitee by an occupier of land or premises; and the operation and scope of the “no duty” doctrine in a suit for damages by an invitee. The case (371 S.W.2d at p. 378) holds that an occupier (Lydick) is under no duty to warn an invitee (Sullivan) of a dangerous condition of the premises that is known to the invitee. On the same authority (371 S.W.2d at p. 380) it must be held that if the plaintiffs failed to establish Lydick Roofing Company of Houston, Inc., owed the decedent a duty to warn, etc., the plaintiffs did not prove an actionable case in the trial court.

The principal question arising from the findings mentioned (Special Issue #2 and Special Issue #13), is whether or not either amounts to a finding the decedent knew that the roofing would not support his weight and that such intelligence constituted, as a matter of law, knowledge of the danger that would be encountered by stepping, as the decedent did, onto the roof. On the basis of the authorities next cited it is concluded that the decedent’s possession of the fact or facts found is equal to and charges the decedent as a matter of law with knowledge of the danger. Marshall v. San Jacinto Building, Inc., Tex.Civ.App., 67 S.W.2d 372, W.R.; Hausman Packing Co. v. Badwey, Tex.Civ.App., 147 S.W.2d 856; Houston National Bank v. Adair, 146 Tex. 387, 207 S.W.2d 374; A. C. Burton Co. Inc., v. Stasny, Tex.Civ.App., 223 S.W.2d 310, W.R.; McKee, General Contractor, Inc., v. Patterson, 153 Tex. 517, 271 S.W.2d 391; Halepeska v. Callahan Interests, Inc., supra.

The appellants say the jury’s answers to special issues just discussed have no effect. The argument is that the answer to special issue No. 2 is the product of a failure of proof, and does not establish the converse of the question asked. Special Issue No. 13 is arraigned as being a disjunctive submission of two inconsistent issues having the effect of and constituting only an effort to determine whether or not in the exercise of ordinary care the decedent ‘knew or should have known’ the roof would not support a man’s weight. Based upon this postulate of the nature of the issue appellants dismiss the finding by pointing out that whether the decedent in the exercise of ordinary care, ‘knew or should have known’ the roof would not support a man’s weight is not an ultimate issue for jury determination in a ‘no duty’ case. (371 S. W.2d 383-384.)

Without deciding the question, it may be granted the appellants’ argument destroys special issue No. 2 as a basis of judgment. However, the validity of the challenge to special issue #13 can not be conceded. This last issue was submitted without objection to its form and must be regarded now as having the approval of the appellants. Rule 372(a). Whether the decedent ‘knew’ and whether the decedent was ‘informed’ are not inconsistent inquiries of the type contemplated by Rule 277. Answer to the issue submitted must be given effect. When two or more issues are combined into a single issue, as is the case here, in the absence of timely objection to the defect, the answer has the same effect as though the issues were separately submitted. Duff v. Roeser & Pendleton, Tex.Civ.App., 96 S.W.2d 682, N.W.H.

[422]*422' As additional grounds for reversal the appellants urge that the jury findings just discussed are contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. The whole body of the evidence bearing upon the issue cannot be briefly detailed, but the substantial essence and quality of the proof is suggested in the following summary of the principal testimony.

Through correspondence courses and training on the job Mr. Sullivan became a practical engineer, and for five or six years before his death had been employed by the M. W. Kellogg Company and classified as a “field” engineer. -In this employment his principal duties consisted of running foundation levels and maintaining the plumb of steel structures under construction. This at times necessitated running roof lines, levels, etc. He had no duties associated with the actual construction of a roof except as plumb' and level might figure in it. The record is silent as to performance of a duty of this nature on the roof of the ex-truder building; from which he fell to his death.

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Sullivan v. Lydick Roofing Co. of Houston
378 S.W.2d 419 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1964)

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378 S.W.2d 419, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sullivan-v-lydick-roofing-co-of-houston-texapp-1964.