Texas Brewing Co. v. Dickey

49 S.W. 935, 20 Tex. Civ. App. 606, 1899 Tex. App. LEXIS 224
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 4, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 49 S.W. 935 (Texas Brewing Co. v. Dickey) 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
Texas Brewing Co. v. Dickey, 49 S.W. 935, 20 Tex. Civ. App. 606, 1899 Tex. App. LEXIS 224 (Tex. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

CONNER, Chief Justice.

Appellee sued appellant for $10,000 for personal injuries alleged to have been inflicted on June 5, 1896, on Fourteenth Street, in the city of Fort Worth, one of its principal streets, between Main and Houston Streets, by a team consisting of two large horses attached to a wagon owned by appellant. He alleged that one of appellant’s servants, while using said team, went away from it, negligently leaving it standing in Houston Street without being tied or secured in any manner, said team being wild and unruly, and unused to the ordinary noises in a city, and in the habit of running away, all of which was known to appellant. That if said team was fastened at all, it was not sufficiently fastened to prevent it from running away. That while so standing the team became frightened, ran away up Houston Street and out Fourteenth, striking with great violence appellee in his buggy, in which he was sitting, destroying the buggy and seriously injuring ap *607 pellee, by which he became sick and diseased, and will always suffer great pain and mental anguish. That appellee was a dentist, having a practice of $2000 a year, and on account of said injury will be unable to pursue his calling. That he paid for nursing $100, doctor’s bills $100, and medicine $25, and that his capacity for earning money has been greatly lessened. That the ordinances of the city of Fort Worth, to wit," Ordinance 669, article 206, title 7, chapter 1, of the Revised Criminal Ordinances of the City of Fort Worth, make it unlawful for any person or persons to leave standing upon any public street or alley of said city any horse or horses, mule or mules, harnessed to any wagon, carriage, buggy, or other vehicle, unless said horse or horses, mule or mules, shall be well and securely fastened to a post firmly set in the ground or sidewalk, or to a ring and staple securely and firmly placed in the sidewalk for that purpose, or to a cast iron weight with a ring attached weighing not less than thirty pounds; and article 208 of the same ordinance provides a penalty for the violation of said above named ordinance of a fine in any sum not less than $5 nor more than $25 for each and every offense. The trial amendment of plaintiff alleged that the damage to his buggy was $50, and that the damage to his horse was $50.

Appellant to said petition by its first amended answer (1) generally excepted, (2) generally denied, and (3) specially pleaded that appellee (plaintiff) should not recover because he was guilty of contributory negligence in blocking said Fourteenth Street by driving and stopping carelessly prior to the accident in said street with a wagon on each side of him; and that the appellee (plaintiff) was guilty of contributory negligence, in that his attention was called to the approach of the team for a sufficient length, of time prior to the alleged injury for him to have got out of the way of the team, and that he made no effort to get out of the way. Appellant further by second supplemental answer specially excepted to appellee’s second amended original petition wherein it alleges that if said horses were secured at all they were not sufficiently fastened or secured to prevent them from breaking loose or prevent them from running away, because same was not sufficient, in that it is indefinite and uncertain, and is not sufficiently specific, and pleads a conclusion.

This is the second time this case has been before us. See 43 S. W. Rep., 577. The material facts are substantially the same now as before, and will not be here recited, except as may be hereinafter done to illustrate our ruling.

In the seventh assignment of error the following section of the court’s charge is questioned, viz: “If you find for the plaintiff, it will be your duty to assess his damages at such sum as you believe will be a fair and reasonable compensation to him for such physical injuries, if any, and such physical and mental suffering, if any, as the plaintiff received or sustained by reason, of being run upon or against by the team or wagon of defendant; and if you believe from the evidence that,the plaintiff received injuries of a permanent character, you can, in determining what amount of damages you will assess, take that fact into consideration, as *608 well as the time it took to recover, if he has recovered, or may probably take to recover therefrom, if you find he has not already recovered. And if you find that plaintiff necessarily lost any time from his business by reason of his injuries, if any, then you may also find such further sum as you believe will be a fair and reasonable compensation to plaintiff for the time so lost or that may hereafter be lost, if any, stating the same separately from the other damages, if any, allowed.”

The verdict of the jury was as follows: “We the jury find for the plaintiff, and assess his damages at the sum of $5000, divided as fol-

lows :

“Physical, mental, and permanent injuries...............$4,000 00
“Time lost.......................................... 975 00
“Damage to buggy.................................... 25 00
“$5,000 00”

The negligence alleged was that of the driver in leaving a team of horses unfastened or insecurely fastened that were alleged to be wild and unruly and unaccustomed to the noises and the diverting scenes of a city like Fort'Worth. The evidence on this point was conflicting, but is such as, under well settled rules, to support the finding of the jury and the judgment of the court below in appellee’s favor. .

The evidence in behalf of appellee also tended to show great and long continued physical pain and physical injuries of a permanent character; that appellee’s physical injuries were such as to necessitate much loss of time, during which he had been unable to pursue his profession as a dentist, and that he would in the future be unable to pursue his profession, except in a greatly lessened degree. The evidence was not very specific, but appellee testified that he had made and collected as much $125 in one week at his profession, so that the element of lost time was one of considerable importance. So viewing it, we have been unable to approve the charge quoted in the seventh assignment.

In the first complete sentence thereof the jury are directed, if they find for plaintiff, to assess his damages at such sum as they should, believe to be a fair and reasonable compensation to him for such physical injuries and such physical and mental suffering as plaintiff may have sustained; thus in general terms submitting every element of damage to which plaintiff could have been entitled save that of lost time and of injury to his buggy. The jury were then told that if they found plaintiff’s injuries were permanent, that fact could be taken into consideration, as well as the time it took or would take to recover. The court may have meant that, in assessing damages for mental and physical pain, they might consider the duration thereof as evidenced by the time it had taken or would take appellee to recover from his injuries, but the charge was not so limited, and we are unable to say that this was the meaning, or that, if so, the jury so interpreted it.

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49 S.W. 935, 20 Tex. Civ. App. 606, 1899 Tex. App. LEXIS 224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-brewing-co-v-dickey-texapp-1899.