United Employers Casualty Co. v. Knight

139 S.W.2d 613, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 267
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 7, 1940
DocketNo. 3617.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 139 S.W.2d 613 (United Employers Casualty Co. v. Knight) 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
United Employers Casualty Co. v. Knight, 139 S.W.2d 613, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 267 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

O’QUINN, Justice.

We shall refer to the parties as appellant and appellee.

This is a workmen’s compensation case. A. R. Starling, as next friend of Robert L. Knight, filed this suit in the district court of Angelina County, Texas, against appellant to set aside an award of the Industrial Accident Board of the State of Texas, and to recover compensation. Pending the trial of the case, appellee became of age, and was granted permission to prosecute the suit in his own name. Appellant answered by general demurrer and general denial.

The case was tried to a jury upon special issues upon their answers to which judgment was rendered in favor of appellee setting aside the award of the Board, and granting compensation for 100 weeks at the rate of $12 per week. Motion for a new trial setting up 61 assignments of error was overruled, and the case is before us on writ of error.

Appellant’s brief contains 25 assignments of error upon which are presented 14 propositions.

The first proposition complains of the improper submission of special issue 12. It reads: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that plaintiff’s partial loss of the sight of his right eye, if any, has not been and will not be only temporary”? Appellant objected to this issue that it was multifarious and duplicitous in that it first inquired “concerning temporary partial loss in the past and then in the same issue makes inquiry of temporary partial loss in the future and requests the jury to answer” yes or no to two different questions which should have been submitted separately. As supporting its assignment it cites Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Shelton, Tex.Civ.App., 130 S.W.2d 903, as being directly in point. In the cited case, the issue read:

“Has or will plaintiff, A. B. Shelton, suffer any partial incapacity to labor as a result of the injuries, if any sustained on November 17, 1936? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
“If you find from a preponderance of the evidence that he has not or will not suffer any partial incapacity, let your answer be ‘No,’ otherwise you will answer ‘Yes.’”

*615 This issue was objected to on the grounds that it was “misleading and duplicitous”. The appellate court held that the issue was subject to the objection, but as we read the decision it was because of the instruction how to answer following the issue. The instant issue is not framed as in the Shelton case; the word “and” being used instead of “or” in the issue, and the instant issue is not followed by the instruction how to answer as in the cited case. We do not believe the issue is subject to the objection that it is multifarious. The material inquiry was whether the partial loss of vision was temporary. Our holding is supported by Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Patterson, Tex.Civ.App., 123 S.W.2d 766, par. 11, writ dismissed; Fidelity & Casualty Co. v. Branton, Tex.Civ.App., 70 S.W.2d 780, par. 13, writ dismissed; Missouri Pac. R. Co. v. Guillory, Tex.Civ.App., 28 S.W.2d 282, writ refused, certiorari denied, 283 U.S. 849, 51 S.Ct. 495, 75 L.Ed. 1457; Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Baker, Tex.Civ.App., 111 S.W.2d 837, 841, writ dismissed. The use of the word “only” in the issue did not make the submission conditional.

What we have said disposes of the second and third propositions.

The court submitted special issue No. 9, which reads: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Robert L. Knight has sustained a partial loss of the sight of his right eye as a direct and natural result of said injury, if any”? This was answered “Yes”. The court then further charged:

“If you have answered special issue No. 9 ‘Yes’ but in such event only you will answer:
“Special Issue No. 14: What percentage of loss of the sight of his right eye, if any, do you find from a preponderance of the evidence Robert L. Knight has sustained”?

The jury answered “80%”. To this issue appellant objected (a) that the issue was “too restrictive and does not comprehensively and adequately present the defendant’s theory of the case to the effect that if the plaintiff sustained any partial loss of sight at all he has sustained such loss in a varying degree, that is, that there has been a series of percentages which have decreased from the date of December, 1938, until the present time, and said issue permits the jury to answer a certain percentage of loss on any arbitrary date the jury may see fit”; (b) that the issue was improper and prejudiced the rights of the defendant in that, as worded, it permitted the jury to answer a percentage of loss on any arbitrary date, and which under the charge would be constant and not varying, whereas under the evidence plaintiff may have been suffering a certain percentage one day, and less on another, and so not proper, and the issue was also objectionable because it did not permit the jury to take into consideration any improvement of plaintiff’s condition in the future, and so imposed upon the defendant a greater burden than the law required. The contention is not sound. The issue was not subject to the objections urged against it. There was no suggestion as to the form the inquiry should take to meet the suggestion of sliding incapacity. We fail to find anything helpful in the criticism offered. Ohio Casualty Ins. Co. v. Stewart, Tex.Civ.App., 76 S.W.2d 873; Wichita Valley Ry. Co. v. Minor, Tex.Civ.App., 100 S.W.2d 1071; Southern Underwriters v. Kelly, Tex.Civ.App., 110 S.W.2d 153. Also, in appellant’s objection to said issue, it complained that the court had not submitted' to the jury its theory of the case and moved the court to prepare and submit to the jury an issue “concerning the different degree of percentage of partial incapacity from time to time in the past, future,” etc., but did not prepare an issue submitting this question and request its submission. Where the court fails to charge upon any particular phase of the case deemed necessary, in order to complain of this omission the party complaining must prepare an issue covering the matter and submit it to the court with a request for its submission. Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway v. Conley, 113 Tex. 472, 260 S.W. 561, 32 A.L.R. 1183; Harris v. Leslie, 128 Tex. 81, 96 S.W.2d 276; Texas & N. O. Railway v. Crow, 132 Tex. 465, 123 S.W.2d 649.

What we have said disposes of appellant’s Fifth proposition. Furthermore, the matter complained by the fifth proposition was not raised by the evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
139 S.W.2d 613, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-employers-casualty-co-v-knight-texapp-1940.