Texas Employers Insurance Ass'n v. Rivera

690 S.W.2d 632, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6403
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 3, 1985
DocketNo. 14223
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 690 S.W.2d 632 (Texas Employers Insurance Ass'n v. Rivera) 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 Employers Insurance Ass'n v. Rivera, 690 S.W.2d 632, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6403 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

EARL W. SMITH, Justice.

This is a workers’ compensation case wherein the employee, Richard Rivera, received accidental concurrent general (to his head) and specific (to his right leg) injuries. Judgment for Rivera for general incapacity was based on jury answers to the first eight special issues in which the jury was permitted to find total temporary incapacity followed by a partial permanent incapacity, based upon the combined effects of the general and specific injuries.

In its sole point of error, appellant, Texas Employers Insurance Association (T.E.I. A.), contends that the trial court erred in its judgment by awarding Rivera compensation benefits for the combined effects of the concurrent general and specific injuries. We sustain the point of error, reverse the judgment of the trial court, and remand this cause with instructions to the trial court to enter judgment consistent with this opinion.

In his petition, Rivera alleged injuries to his leg and body, as a result of which he was totally and permanently incapacitated; or in the alternative, he was permanently partially incapacitated; and as a further result of said injuries and concurrent with his general injury, he sustained a specific injury to his right leg, as a result of which he suffered the total loss of use of his leg, or in the alternative, partial permanent loss of use thereof. Rivera did not plead that the specific injury to his leg extended to and affected other parts of his body, nor did the evidence so indicate.

T.E.I.A. answered by general denial, and pleaded further: that Rivera was not totally and permanently disabled; that any disability was temporary, not permanent, and was partial, not total; that Rivera’s injury was confined to his right leg below the knee; that any incapacity or disability was limited to his leg, and was partial and temporary only; and that any incapacity or disability of Rivera was caused solely by the injury to his leg.

The case was submitted to the jury on special issues, with the answers to the first [633]*633eight issues forming the basis of the court’s judgment. Special issue No. 1 was:

1. Do you find that Richard Rivera’s injury1 ... included his nose, face, or head, or was such injury confined to his right leg?
Answer: ... [I]t included his nose, face or head.

Following such issue, the jury further found that;

2. Rivera’s injury was a producing cause of total incapacity;
3. & 4. The beginning date of which total incapacity was September 21, 1981, and the ending date thereof was December 13, 1981;
5. The injury was a producing cause of partial incapacity;
6. & 7. This partial incapacity began December 14, 1981, and was permanent; and,
8. Rivera’s wage earning capacity during his partial incapacity was $528.80 per week.

The court then submitted a series of issues which asked the jury to make findings as to the extent of the general and specific injuries, independent of each other, and the jury in response to such issues, found as follows:

9. That the injury was a producing cause of total loss of use of Rivera’s right leg;
10. Which total loss began September 21, 1981; and,
11. Ended December 13, 1981 [the same beginning and ending dates found by the jury as to the combined general and specific injuries in Issues Nos. 3 and 4, supra.];
12. That the injury was a producing cause of partial loss of use of the leg; Í3. Which partial loss began December 14, 1981 [the same beginning date found by the jury in Issue No. 6 as to partial incapacity based upon the combined injuries];
14.Such partial loss of use was permanent; and,
15. The degree of partial loss of use was 10%.

The court then submitted general incapacity issues again; however, this time the jury was instructed in answering the general issues Nos. 16 through 22 as follows: “[Y]ou are not to take into account the effects of Richard Rivera’s right leg or base any findings on such conditions,” and, “If you have answered Special Issue No. 1, We find that [the injury] included his nose, face or head,’ then answer Special Issue No. 16; otherwise do not answer Special Issue No. 16.”

The jury then further found:

16. Rivera’s injury was a producing cause of total incapacity;
17. The beginning date of which total incapacity was September 21, 1981;
18. The ending date of same was September 26, 1981; and,
19. The injury was not a producing cause of partial incapacity.

In view of the answer to Special Issue No. 19, Issues Nos. 20, 21 and 22 were not answered.

Rivera objected to the submission of Special Issues Nos. 16 through 22 on the ground that such submission of issues “which do not control the disposition of the case allows the jury to consider issues not raised by the pleadings or the evidence” and that the issues would “in all probability or necessarily confuse the issue and therefore will leave prejudice to the plaintiff’s case.” The objections were overruled.

T.E.I.A. objected to Special Issues Nos. 2 through 8 because they “improperly allow the jury in this concurrent injury ease to consider a specific injury in determining the general incapacity issues ..., [and] [t]o allow the jury in Issues Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to include both the alleged general injury and the alleged specific injury makes the specific injuries statute in effect worthless. In this situation, there never would be a specific injury case if all the plaintiff would have to do is show that he sustained [634]*634a scratch to some part of his body or a bruise to some part of his body. The way this charge is submitted that is all the plaintiff would have to show to allow the jury to consider both the general injury and the specific injury in determining total incapacity, and in the issues dealing with partial incapacity.”

T.E.I.A. further objected that the issues which should be submitted to the jury were those which T.E.I.A. tendered to the court. Moreover, T.E.I.A. objected that the “jury should not be allowed to consider the combined effects ... [citing cases] unless there is a finding by the jury first of either total or partial permanent incapacity as a result of the head injury and total or permanent [sic], total or partial loss of use to the right leg which is permanent.” Finally, T.E.I.A. objected that Issues Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 should follow issues inquiring about the loss of use of the leg and incapacity for the head only. Such objections were overruled.

T.E.I.A. also requested that the charge it submitted be substituted for the charge prepared by the court. The proposed charge is attached to this opinion as footnote 2. It was denied by the court. In the proposed charge, Special Issue No. 1 is substantially the same as contained in the court's charge.

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Related

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Callejo
734 S.W.2d 126 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Rivera v. Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n
701 S.W.2d 837 (Texas Supreme Court, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
690 S.W.2d 632, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-employers-insurance-assn-v-rivera-texapp-1985.