Texas Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Wingo

47 S.W.2d 397
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 24, 1932
DocketNo. 3748
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 47 S.W.2d 397 (Texas Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Wingo) 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 Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Wingo, 47 S.W.2d 397 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

HALL, C. J.

This is a workmen’s compensation case. No question is raised with reference to the pleadings, and it is conceded that the conditions precedent to the filing of the suit have all been complied with.

The appellee Wingo alleges that he was an employee of the Fain-McGaha Oil Corporation, at an average weekly wage of $31.50, and had been thus engaged for more than a ■year. He alleges that while in the performance of his duties, his eyes were injured by reason of certain chemicals falling in his face which completely blinded .him for the time, causing great pain and suffering. That as a result of the injury, the vision of both eyes has been impaired permanently to the extent of at least 50 per cent. . That he has been totally disabled up to the time of filing this suit’ and will continue to be disabled to the extent of 50 per cent, by reason of the loss of his vision and the pain which he has suffered and will suffer in the future. He alleges that his condition is permanent.

He further alleges that the Industrial Accident Board heard his claim, made its award, and this suit is filed for the purpose of setting aside said award.

The Texas Indemnity Insurance Company, appellant, in addition to a general demurrer and a general denial, answered that the plaintiff did sustain a slight injury to his eyes on the date alleged, but that the defendant assumed its contractual relation and undertook by agreement with the plaintiff to treat plaintiff and paid him for the time that he lost as provided by law and did pay, in addition to the hospital and doctors’ bills, the sum of $40.08, which covered his disability for a period of twenty-five days from the date of his injury. That plaintiff accepted same in full compensation for the injuries and on the 14th day of July, 1930, executed a written release, at which time his disability terminated and he returned to work.

The case was submitted to a jury upon special issues. In response to the issues, the jury found, in substance, as follows: (1) That by reason of the injury sustained by plaintiff on June 13, 1930, plaintiff suffered a partial incapacity to work after the termination of his total incapacity; (2) that such partial incapacity is permanent-; (6) the extent of plaintiff’s partial incapacity to work is reduced 25 per cent.; (7) plaintiff had not recovered from the injuries at the time he returned to work; (8) that prior to the time he was injured, plaintiff had what is -known as conjunctivitis of both eyes; (9) plaintiff’s vision was impaired by reason of the injuries he received; (10) prior to the time of the injuries complained of, plaintiff’s vision was not defective.

The court entered judgment in favor of [399]*399Wingo for the sum of $245.31, being the amount of accrued compensation with interest to the 20th day of June, 1931, and further decreed that he recover the sum of $4.67 per week, beginning June 20, 1931, and continue for a period of 249 weeks, and in addition that he recover interest upon all past-due payments and payments which may become due, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum.

The judgment was. entered July 3, 1931. Supersedeas bond was filed on the 15th of July, and on the 17th day of August following, appellant’s counsel presented to the trial judge a bill of exceptions which purports to set out “objections in substance” to the special issues which the court had submitted. This bill had been previously presented to appellee’s counsel, who refused to approve it, but the trial judge approved the bill and it was filed on August 17th. The bill recites that appellant’s counsel objected to special issue No. 1 on the ground that it permitted the jury to take into consideration the condition that existed in appellee’s eyes, known as conjunctivitis, prior to the injury, when said condition should have been excluded. It contains the same recitation with reference to special issue No. 2, and recites that appellant’s counsel objected to special issue No. 6 because the jury was not instructed to exclude from consideration the conjunctivitis condition that existed at the time and prior to the injury.

It appears from the record that before the charge was read to the jury, appellant’s counsel, with consent of the court and opposing counsel, and in their presence, dictated to the court stenographer his objections to the charge. These objections are incorporated in the transcript. At the June term, 1931, of the court, appellee’s counsel presented a motion to strike the exception from the record, because the objections which the bill recites were made, had not in fact been made by appellant’s counsel. On January 25, 1932, the court heard appellee’s motion to strike the bill and overruled it. On January 27th thereafter, the court entered an order which recites that “on this day came on to be heard the plaintiff’s (appellee’s) motion to strike the objections and exceptions to the Court’s charge dated Aug. 17, 1931, and appearing in the transcript in this ease at pages 26 to 27.” Reference to pages 26 and 27 of the transcript shows that the reference is to the bill of exceptions and not to the court’s charge. The court’s charge appears upon page 12 of the transcript, so we assume that it is the motion to strike the bill of exceptions, instead of the motion to strike the objections to the court’s charge, which was considered on the 27th day of January, 1932. This order sets out at length the objections to the charge which were dictated to the court stenographer anfl also the objections to the charge as stated in the bill of exceptions. This order seems to have been entered after a hearing from both sides and recites that the court finds that the only exceptions and objections made by defendant’s counsel to the charge at the time of the trial were the exceptions and objections dictated in open court and appearing on pages 15 to 17, inclusive, of the transcript, and. states that the exceptions and objections as set out in the bill of exceptions were not made at the time of the trial, and orders the judgment of January 25th to be set aside and withdrawn and that appellee’s motion to strike out the defendant’s bill of exceptions dated August 17, 1931, be sustained. • In the supplemental transcript which contains the proceedings incident to the motion to strike the bill of exception, there also appears a bill of exceptions taken to the final order of January 27th above mentioned. This bill of exceptions contains the following qualification by the trial judge: “The above bill is approved by me with the following explanation and exception: the statement in the bill to the effect that I had the entire record before me when I approved the original bill of exceptions, is not exactly correct. I only had before me the statement of facts and it did not contain the exceptions taken by counsel to the charge upon the trial. In my final ruling on this matter I have not and do not charge nor intimate nor believe -that counsel for appellant has been guilty of sharp practice in this matter. I depended upon his recollection as to just what his exceptions to the charge were and upon examination of the record I find that he was mistaken about it and in order to be sure I have had the Court Reporter read to me his original shorthand botes, taken from counsel at the time his exceptions were dictated.”

• [1-3] Having accepted the bill of exception with the foregoing. qualification, appellant’s counsel is bound by the facts recited by the trial judge.

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47 S.W.2d 397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-indemnity-ins-co-v-wingo-texapp-1932.