Texas Employers Insurance Association v. Melton

304 S.W.2d 453, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1978
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 1957
Docket3451
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 304 S.W.2d 453 (Texas Employers Insurance Association v. Melton) 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 Association v. Melton, 304 S.W.2d 453, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1978 (Tex. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a compensation case. The jury found (1) that on the 28th of July, 19SS, Ida Bell Melton sustained an injury as defined in the court’s charge; (2) “Q.

Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such injury, if any, sustained by Ida Bell Melton on the occasion in question, if she did, naturally resulted in her incapacity to work, in any percentage, for any length of time? Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Answer: Yes”; (3) “Do you find from a preponderance of the *455 evidence that such incapacity to work, if any, was or is, total (as explained herein) for any length of time? Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Answer: Yes”; (4) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such total incapacity, if any, was, or will he permanent or temporary (as defined herein) ? Answer: Temporary;” (5) “From a preponderance of the evidence, how long do you find such total incapacity, if any, has continued or will continue, from the date of its beginning, if any? Answer in number of days and/or weeks, if any, in figures, or ‘none’. Answer: (a) -days or (b) 360 weeks, or (c) -. If you have answered Special Issue No. 3 ‘yes’, then answer the following issue; otherwise, do not answer it. (6) that July 28, 1955 was the beginning date of total incapacity; (7) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such incapacity to work, if any, was, is or will be partial (as explained herein) from the date of such injury, if any, or from the termination of the total incapacity, if any you have found, for any length of time? Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Answer: No.” (the court instructed the jury that if they answered Issue No. 7 “No,” not to answer Issues 8, 9, 10 and 11); (12) that there was another employee of the same class as appellee working substantially the whole of such immediately preceding year in the same or in a similar employment in the same or in a neighboring place; (13) that the average daily wage earned by such other employee for such employment was $8.00 per day; (14) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that any disability you may have found in connection with Special Issue No. 2, if any you have found, in excess of two days, was not solely the result of arthritis? Answer: It was not.”; (16) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that any part of the incapacity you may have found in connection with Special Issue No. 2, if any you have so found, was not solely the result of arthritis ? Answer: It was not.”; (18) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that any disability you may have found is not due in any degree to a former injury?.

Answer: It is not.”

The court entered judgment on the verdict in behalf of appellee, and in the judgment we find the following recital:

“The court finds from said verdict, as supplemented by the stipulations of the parties and the admissions by defendant as facts that Ida Bell Melton sustained accidental personal injuries while working for the Denison Cotton Mill Company in Denison, Grayson County, Texas, in the course and scope of her employment on July 28, 1955, that naturally resulted in her incapacity to work; that at the time plaintiff sustained her injuries, the Denison Cotton Mill Company carried a policy of Workmen’s Compensation Insurance issued under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Texas with Texas Employers Insurance Association that was in full force and effect and that plaintiff is entitled to recover benefits under said law for incapacity sustained by her on said date; that the cause of action herein was duly and timely filed and prosecuted before the Industrial Accident Board of Texas and said Board made its final award therein, that plaintiff timely gave notice of appeal from such award and within due time, as provided by law, filed this suit to set aside the same.
“The court further finds in accordance with the stipulations and admissions by the defendant and the evidence that the plaintiff was not engaged in the same or similar employment as that which she was performing for the Denison Cotton Mill Company for substantially the whole of the year preceding July 28, 1955, but worked only 245 days during said period. The court further finds that the average daily wage as found by the jury is $8.00 *456 p.er day and 300 times the average daily wage gives an annual wage of $2400.00 and 1/52 part of said average annual wage is $46.15, that the court thereby finds that $46.15 is tire average weekly wage upon which the compensation payable to plaintiff is to be based and that 60% thereof is more than $25.00; .therefore, the court finds that 'the plaintiff has total incapacity for 360 weeks and she is entitled to recover the sum of $25.00 per week for 360 weeks from and after July 28, 1955, the court further finds that the beginning date of such total disability is July 28, 1955, and the court finds that a period of 44 weeks at $25.00 per week have accrued to date; that the plaintiff has been paid 5 weeks of compensation at the rate of $21.60 per week, making a total of $108.00 heretofore paid and defendant should have credit for such payments made; that plaintiff is entitled to interest at the rate of 4% per annum on such accrued payments, the first payment having become due on July 28, 1955, making a total of $1,006.-56 due on May 31, 1956, after crediting defendant with payments already made; the court further finds that the plaintiff is entitled to receive the sum of $25.00 per week from May 31, 1956, for a total of 316 weeks, making the total amount of this judgment in favor of plaintiff against defendant the sum of $8906.56.”

The court decreed:

«* * * £fjat plaintiff do recover of and from the defendant five (5) weeks of compensation accrued to date in the sum of $3.40 each and the same being the difference between the rate of compensation heretofore paid and the amount actually due, making a total of $17.00 and that plaintiff further recover of and from defendant the further sum of 39 weeks of compensation accrued to May 31, 1956 in the sum of $25.00 per week, together with interest thereon at the rate of 4% per annum in the further sum of $14.56, all in the sum of $989.56, and that plaintiff further recover against defendant the sum of 316 weeks of compensation accruing in the future in the amount of $25.00 each week, making a total of $7,900.00 to accrue in the future, the first payment being due and payable on the 7th day of June, 1956, and the remaining 315 installments are due' and payable at the rate of $25.00 each week on Thursday of each week thereafter until the full amount of $7,900.00 is paid, allowing interest thereon at the rate of 4% per annum on any payment due and unpaid on the due date.
“It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the final ruling and decision of the Industrial Accident Board, of the State of Texas, rendered in the claim of Ida Bell Melton, Employee vs. Denison Cotton Mill Company, Employer, and Texas Employers Insurance Association, Insuror, No. 0-49830, on the 13th day of January, 1956, be and the same is hereby vacated and set aside.”

The court further decreed ⅜ of the award to appellee and ⅛ to her attorneys.

Appellant seasonably filed its amended motion for new trial and, it being overruled, perfected its appeal to the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals and the cause is here on transfer order of our Supreme Court.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Aetna Casualty & Surety Company v. Scruggs
413 S.W.2d 416 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1967)
Texas General Indemnity Co. v. Schick
372 S.W.2d 360 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1963)
Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. Jackson
360 S.W.2d 900 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1962)
Argonaut Insurance Co. v. Newman
348 S.W.2d 761 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1961)
Houston-American Finance Corporation v. Travis
343 S.W.2d 323 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Texas Casualty Insurance Company v. Crawford
340 S.W.2d 110 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
304 S.W.2d 453, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1978, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-employers-insurance-association-v-melton-texapp-1957.