Texaco, Inc. v. Forester

456 S.W.2d 196
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 18, 1970
Docket7097
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 456 S.W.2d 196 (Texaco, Inc. v. Forester) 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
Texaco, Inc. v. Forester, 456 S.W.2d 196 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

STEPHENSON, Justice.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries. Plaintiff, Forester, brought this suit against defendants, Texaco, Inc. and its employee, Sadler, and also against defendant, Evangeline Well Service, Inc. (hereinafter called Evangeline). Trial was by jury, and judgment was rendered for plaintiff against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler only, and that Texaco, Inc. and Sadler recover nothing from Evangeline on their cross action.

Plaintiff made the following allegations: That he was an employee of Gulf Coast Machine & Supply Co. (hereinafter called Gulf Coast). That his injury was received on a well site owned or leased by Texaco, Inc. That Evangeline was conducting drilling operations under a contract with Texaco, Inc. That Evangeline purchased certain equipment in such drilling operations from Gulf Coast, and called upon plaintiff to install such equipment as a Gulf Coast employee. That his cause of action, in substance, against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler was based upon Sadler’s negligence in kicking a rotary bushing through a hole in the drilling platform, causing it to fall upon plaintiff working below the drilling platform, proximately causing the injury and damages complained of. That plaintiff’s cause of action against Evangeline, in substance, was failure to furnish him a safe place to work. Texaco, Inc.’s cause of action against Evangeline was upon a written contract for indemnity and contribution.

The jury made the following findings in essence: That Sadler while acting in the course and scope of his employment with Texaco, Inc., kicked the rotary bushing through the hole, which was negligence and a proximate cause and also the sole cause of plaintiff’s injury. That Evangeline’s failure to cover the hole was negligence and a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury. That plaintiff knew and appreciated the danger of working under the rig floor with the rotary hole open. The jury failed to find plaintiff guilty of acts of contributory negligence or that this was an unavoidable accident.

Texaco, Inc.’s and Sadler’s first point of error is that the trial court erred in rendering judgment against them because of the jury finding that plaintiff knew and appreciated the danger of working under the open rotary hole. It is the two different types of causes of action involved in this case which lead to the confusion. As stated above, plaintiff’s cause of action against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler is based upon “active” negligence as that term is used by Associate Justice Joe Greenhill in his article which appeared in The State Bar Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1, dated January 22, 1965. The “activity” which the jury found to be negligence and a proximate cause was Sadler’s kicking the rotary bushing through the hole. After these findings, Texaco, Inc. and Sadler had the burden of securing a finding of contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff, in order to avoid liability, which they failed to do. The finding by the jury that plaintiff knew and appreciated the danger of working under the open rotary hole, was not a finding of negligence on plaintiff’s part. Justice Greenhill points out that, even [199]*199though in Halepeska v. Callihan Interests, Inc., 371 S.W.2d 368 (Tex.Sup., 1963) it is not stated the “no duty” doctrine applies to both “conditions” and “activities”, the “activities” contemplated under Hernandez v. Heldenfels, 374 S.W.2d 196 (Tex.Sup., 1963) must be continuous and localized. The “activity” (kicking the rotary bushing through the hole) was neither continuous nor localized.

If plaintiff’s cause of action against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler had been one based upon the failure to furnish plaintiff a safe place to work, then we would be faced with a different situation. In this state, the occupier of land and premises, as to invitees, has the duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, together with a duty to inspect the premises to discover defects. The occupier has a duty to protect his invitees from dangers of which he, the occupier knows, or which, because of his duty to inspect, he should know. If the premises are unsafe, and the occupier has not remedied the defect, the duty of the occupier is to warn the invitee. The invitee may assume the premises are in good condition, and is under no duty to inspect them for defects. The occupier is not obligated to the invitee to both warn and remedy the defect, but may do either. If the defect is “open and obvious” or if the invitee knows and appreciates the danger of the defect, then the occupier is under “no duty” to the invitee. But, as stated above, plaintiff’s cause of action against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler was not based upon a “condition” and the finding that plaintiff knew and appreciated the danger of working under the rotary hole does not prevent his recovery as against them. Texaco, Inc. and Sadler still owed plaintiff a duty not to harm him. The defenses available under Delhi-Taylor Oil Corporation v. Henry, 416 S.W.2d 390 (Tex.Sup., 1967), and McKee v. Patterson, 153 Tex. 517, 271 S.W.2d 391 (1953), have no application to the present case. The first point of error is overruled.

The second point of error of Texaco, Inc. and Sadler is that there is a fatal conflict in the jury findings that Evangeline’s negligence was a “proximate cause” and Sadler’s negligence was the “sole cause” of plaintiff’s injury. We have considered this point in accordance with the rule stated by the Supreme Court of Texas in Little Rock Furniture Mfg. Co. v. Dunn, 148 Tex. 197, 222 S.W.2d 985 (1949).

We have concluded that the answers to these two special issues have no bearing upon the outcome of this case. If the trial court had determined there was a conflict and returned the jury for further consideration, the same judgment would have been entered in this case regardless of any change or changes the jury might have made. First, the jury had found Sadler’s negligence to be a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury, and plaintiff would have been entitled to judgment against Texaco, Inc. and Sadler regardless of how the jury answered the sole cause issue. Likewise, if the jury had changed its answer to the issue as to proximate cause by Evangeline, Evangeline would have still been entitled to judgment, inasmuch as the jury finding that plaintiff knew and appreciated the danger constituted a finding of “no duty” on the part of Evangeline. There is no combination of answers to the issues claimed to be in conflict which would have required the entry of a different judgment. The point is overruled.

Texaco, Inc.’s and Sadler’s next points of error complain of the excessiveness of the verdict and the inclusion of loss of wage earning capacity as an element of damages. In arriving at their verdict of $75,000.00, the jury was instructed to consider only past and future pain and suffering and loss of future wage earning capacity. We view the evidence in its most favorable light supporting the award.

Plaintiff was 36 years old at the time of the injury and almost 39 at the time of trial. At the time of trial he had been [200]*200with Gulf Coast about 9 years in wellhead sales and service. Previously he had done similar work for National Supply for 8 years.

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Texaco, Inc. v. Forester
456 S.W.2d 196 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)

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456 S.W.2d 196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texaco-inc-v-forester-texapp-1970.