TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASSOCIATION v. Brown

309 S.W.2d 295, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1743
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 9, 1958
Docket3496
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 309 S.W.2d 295 (TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASSOCIATION v. Brown) 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. Brown, 309 S.W.2d 295, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1743 (Tex. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a compensation case. The jury in its verdict found (1) that plaintiff sustained an injury to his back on or about June 4, 1955, (2) and that such injury was accidental, and (3) that he was an employee of The Borden Company at such time, and (4) that such injuries were received in the course of his employment for such Company; (5) that such injury did not naturally result in total incapacity to labor ; (6) not answered pursuant to instructions ; (7) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that said total incapacity to labor, if any, is permanent?”, to which the jury answered “No”; (8) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that said total incapacity to labor, if any, was not temporary? Let the form of your answer be ‘It was not temporary’ or ‘It was temporary’ ”, to which the jury answered “It was not temporary” ; (9) not answered pursuant to instructions; (10) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that L. E. Brown has sustained or will sustain a partial incapacity to labor as a natural result of the injuries he received on June 4, 1955, if any you have found?”, to which the jury answered “Yes”; (11) “What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence to be the percentage of such partial incapacity to labor, if any, during the continuance thereof? Answer by stating the percentage,” to which the jury answered “75%;” (12) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that such partial incapacity to labor, if any, is permanent?”, to which the jury answered “No”; (13) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that said partial incapacity to labor, if any, was not temporary? Let the form of your answer be ‘It was not temporary’ or ‘It was temporary’ ”, to which the jury answered “It was not temporary”; (14) that partial incapacity to labor began on February 8, 1955; (15) not answered pursuant to instructions; (16) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that there was an employee of the same class as plaintiff, L. E. Brown, who worked substantially the whole of the year immediately preceding June 4, 1955, in the same or in a similar employment as that engaged in by L. E. Brown at the time of his injuries, if any, on June 4, 1955, either in the same place or a neighboring place to that at which L. E. Brown was working when injured, if he was injured?”, to which the jury answered “No”; Issue No. 17 made inquiry as to the average daily wage or salary of the same class as plaintiff working substantially the whole of the year immediately preceding the date of plaintiff’s injuries and was unanswered; (18) that the average weekly wage of plaintiff that would be just and fair to both parties would be $55; (19) that plaintiff was not entitled to a lump sum settlement; (20) that plaintiff’s incapacity to labor is not due solely to congenital defects, disease or unusual suscep *297 tibility thereto, or any combination of such things unrelated to such injury; (21) that R. B. Cathey received notifce of the injury within thirty days from June 4, 1955; (22) that at the time plaintiff gave notice of said injury to Cathey that Cathey was an employee of The Borden Company; (23) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that L. E. Brown reasonably believed until about the time that his notice of injury was given on February 15, 1956, that the injury received by him on June 4, 1955, if any, was not serious and would not disable him?”, to which the jury gave no answer; (24) that plaintiff failed to give such notice of his injury on account of the belief that his injury was not serious and would not disable him not answered; (25) “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that a reasonably prudent person would, under the same or similar circumstances, by reason of such belief have delayed the giving of such notice until February 15, 1956” was not answered; (26) that plaintiff reasonably believed until about the time that his claim for compensation was filed on February 15, 1956, that the injury received by him on June 4, 1955 was not serious and would not disable him; (27) and that he failed to file such claim on account of such belief; (28) and that a reasonably prudent person would, under the same or similar circumstances, by reason of such belief, have delayed the filing of his claim until February 15, 1956.

In the judgment we find this recital:

“The Court makes the following findings regarding the jury’s verdict: 1. The finding of the jury in answer to Special Issue no. 13 that plaintiff’s partial incapacity ‘was not temporary’ was tantamount to a finding by the jury of permanent partial incapacity to labor, considering the definition of ‘temporary.’ 2. Viewing the answer of the jury to Special Issue No. 13 with the answer to the remaining issues, it is apparent that a verdict for plaintiff for seventy-five percent permanent partial incapacity to labor was intended to be found by the jury and the issues were answered by the jury in a manner clearly sufficient upon which to base a judgment for the plaintiff for such period of time.
“Under the pleadings, evidence and verdict of the jury filed herein, the Court is of the opinion that the plaintiff’s motion for judgment should be granted and that the plaintiff, L. E. Brown, is entitled to recover judgment against defendant, Texas Employers Insurance Association, for the payment of compensation for the full period of 300 weeks from and after February 8, 1956, at the rate of $24.75 per week with interest thereon at the rate of 4% per annum on all past due installments of compensation from maturity until paid, the jury having found that the plaintiff’s average weekly wage for the purpose of computation of the compensation rate to be $55.00; the Court further finds that there is now, and was. on January 16, 1957, past due, accrued and unpaid 49 weeks of compensation due the plaintiff in the total sum of $1212.75 with accrued interest to January 16, 1957 in the sum of $22.39, making the total amount of money due plaintiff as of January 16, 1957, $1,235.-14.”

and the court decreed accordingly. The court further decreed that the decision and award of the Industrial Accident Board heretofore made on the 18th of April, 1956 be in all things set aside and held for naught. The court then fixed the share that plaintiff’s attorneys were entitled to receive of the judgment and granted plaintiff’s motion for judgment and overruled defendant’s motion for judgment non ob-stante veredicto, as well as defendant’s motion to disregard certain jury findings and to enter judgment for defendant, as well as defendant’s motion for mistrial because of conflict in the jury’s answer to special issues, and defendant’s amended motion for new trial. Defendant perfected its appeal to the Houston Court of Civil

*298 Appeals and the cause is here on transfer order of our Supreme Court.

The decree is assailed on four points. They are substantially: The court erred because (1) plaintiff failed, as a matter of law, to show good cause for not filing his claim for compensation within the statutory period; (2) that the evidence showed, as a matter of law, that plaintiff was not an employee of the Borden Company at the time of his accident, and that R. B.

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Bluebook (online)
309 S.W.2d 295, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-employersinsurance-association-v-brown-texapp-1958.