Ætna Ins. Co. v. English

204 S.W.2d 850, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 751
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 19, 1947
DocketNo. 14859
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 204 S.W.2d 850 (Ætna Ins. Co. v. English) 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
Ætna Ins. Co. v. English, 204 S.W.2d 850, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 751 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

H. E. English, doing business in the trade name of Red Ball Motor Freight Lines, hereinafter called plaintiff, sued .Etna Insurance Company, hereinafter called defendant, on a policy of insurance alleged to cover the loss by theft of merchandise while in the possession of plaintiff for transportation over his motor freight lines.

On and prior to June 12, 1944, plaintiff was engaged in the transportation of merchandise and other commodities, including whisky, from one point to another in this state. Prior to the last date mentioned, defendant had issued its policy insuring plaintiff against loss by theft of freight while in plaintiff’s possession. The policy was in effect on June 12, 1944; one provision in the policy was to the effect that the liability of the defendant should be the amount of the loss resulting from theft, less $100.

On June 12, 1944, plaintiff received at Dallas, Texas, for transportation to Kil-gore, Texas, 84 cases of whisky, loaded it onto his motor truck and began its transportation to destination. When the truck arrived at Kilgore, the cases of whisky were removed from the truck, placed in the warehouse, and then counted. It was found by the count that there were only 59 cases of whisky, 25 cases short of the 84 cases alleged to have been loaded onto the truck at Dallas.

Trial was to a jury on special issues. The verdict was (1) 84 cases of whisky were loaded onto plaintiff’s truck at Dallas for transportation to Kilgore; (2) 25 cases of whisky were lost; (3) the loss was the result of a theft. Under Rule 169, Texas Rules Civil Procedure, defendant admitted that the value of the lost liquor at Dallas was $1,004.09. Deducting the $100.00 provided for in the policy, judgment was entered for plaintiff for $904.09, from which judgment defendant has appealed.

By three points of error, defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury finding that the loss of the 25 cases of whisky was the result of a theft. In its brief, defendant frankly submits that the sole question for [852]*852this court to determine is, does the evidence support the jury finding that the loss was the result of a theft?

Both at the conclusion of plaintiff’s testimony, and when all testimony was in, defendant presented and requested the court to give a summary instruction in its favor, based upon the contention that there was no testimony of probative value before the court from which a jury could properly find that a theft had been committed. The court overruled both motions. The points of error relied upon, attacking the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, raise the same point as did the motions for an instructed verdict. We have concluded that the court properly overruled both motions for an instructed verdict; that there was sufficient evidence to raise an issue to go to the jury, and the jury having resolved the question of fact against defendant there is evidence of probative value to support the verdict.

In view of these conclusions it becomes necessary to refer more in detail to the evidence than we would if its sufficiency was not so challenged.

It seems indisputably true that plaintiff received at Dallas, Texas, 84 cases of whisky for transportation to Kilgore, Texas. The jury found this to be true. The 84 cases of whisky came from several consignors, and by means of pick-up trucks, the shipments were gathered together at plaintiff’s dock in Dallas. The dock is about SO feet wide, one side facing north and the other south. The means employed for final loading onto what was called the “line truck”, which was to carry the freight to its destination, appears to be that the pickup trucks backed up to the dock and parked on the north side while the line truck stood on the south side ready for loading. The cases of whisky were wheeled in hand trucks from the pick-up trucks, across the dock and there placed in the line truck.

There is testimony that the cases of whisky in controversy were handled and checked in a manner different to that used in handling general freight.

Plaintiff offered the testimony of O. M. McCulloch, dock superintendent at Dallas, F. N. Tresenriter, a helper at the Dallas dock, and L. J. Porter, the driver of the truck in which the whisky was transported. Tresenriter was still in the employ of plaintiff at the time of trial while McCulloch and Porter were not.

Defendant offered as a witness S. T. Curry, not in the employ of plaintiff at the time of trial, but who was dock superintendent in Kilgore at the time of the shipment.

Mr. McCulloch testified in effect, that: On the evening of June 12, 1944, plaintiff’s pick-up trucks had assembled the shipment of whisky at plaintiff’s dock in Dallas at about 8 p. m. The shipment constituted less than a line-truck full load. There were 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of general freight, aside from the whisky, to be loaded into the line truck destined to Kilgore and intermediate points; he caused the general freight consigned to Kilgore to be loaded into the truck first and placed it near the front end of the large trailer or van type line truck. He detailed loading of the whisky consigned to Kilgore into the truck. Tresenriter was stationed on the north side of the dock next to the pick-up trueles and facing south toward the line truck. A Mr. Beauman (who did not testify) was stationed on the south side of the dock, next to the line truck, facing the pick-up trucks. Each, Tresenriter and Beauman, was given a blank sheet of paper and instructed by McCulloch to count the number of cases of whisky wheeled across the dock from the pick-up trucks to the line truck. As the cases of whisky were wheeled across the dock, each of these checkers would make a straight mark on his sheet of paper for each case of whisky that crossed the dock and was loaded into the line truck. When the loading of the whisky was completed, the two checkers compared their sheets of paper used in counting the cases, and were found to correspond precisely, showing that 84 cases of whisky had been loaded into the line truck. The two sheets were handed to Mr. McCulloch and he also compared them and found that they corresponded in number and, as was his custom in such matters, he retained one of the sheets and destroyed the other. He did not know [853]*853which of the checkers, Tresenriter or Beauman, made the sheet retained by him, but that they were both the same. The sheet retained by him was introduced in evidence and appears in the record, showing that 84 cases of whisky were loaded into the line truck.

Mr. McCulloch further testified in effect, that: He then supervised the loading of about 8,000 pounds of general freight, including some cases of vinegar, consigned to Tyler, Texas, in the back end of the line truck so that it could be unloaded at Tyler, -an intermediate point between Dallas and Kilgore.

The witness Tresenriter testified to a state of facts in regard to his connection with the loading of the whisky into the line truck, coinciding with that of McCulloch in respect thereto. He further testified that since he was checking from the north side of the dock at Dallas, he was facing the line truck on the south side, and saw each hand-truck load which he had counted go into the line truck.

L. J. Porter, the driver of the line truck from Dallas to Kilgore, testified in effect, that: He was advised that he was to drive plaintiff’s line truck from Dallas to Kilgore that night and arrived at the dock in Dallas about 8 p.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
204 S.W.2d 850, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tna-ins-co-v-english-texapp-1947.