Warren v. Jamison

544 S.W.2d 196, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3401
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 30, 1976
DocketNo. 5666
StatusPublished

This text of 544 S.W.2d 196 (Warren v. Jamison) 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
Warren v. Jamison, 544 S.W.2d 196, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3401 (Tex. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

McDONALD, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by Appellant Executor of the Estate of John L. Hammond from take-nothing judgment in his suit against Appellees West Texas State Bank and Mona Rae Jamison.

John L. Hammond filed this case against Mona Rae Jamison for damages for personal injury caused by alleged negligence of Jamison in operation of an automobile on the parking lot of the West Texas State Bank in Canyon. Pending trial plaintiff died and his executor was made party plaintiff. The Bank was subsequently added as a party defendant on the premise the Bank had contributed to injury to Hammond in the construction and maintenance of its facilities.

[198]*198Jamison answered by general denial; a plea of contributory negligence of Hammond; and a plea of intervening negligence by the Bank.

The Bank answered by general denial; a plea of contributory negligence of Hammond; and a plea that the sole proximate cause was the negligence of Jamison.

Trial was to a jury. At the conclusion of the evidence the trial court granted the Bank’s motion for instructed verdict in its favor, and the Bank did not thereafter participate in the trial.

Hammond’s case against Jamison was submitted to the jury which in answer to Special Issues acquitted both Jamison and Hammond of negligence.

The trial court rendered judgment on the verdict that plaintiff take nothing against Jamison, and that plaintiff take nothing against the Bank, based upon the granting of the Bank’s motion for instructed verdict.

Appellant appeals on 12 points, but states that points 1, 2, and 8 are abandoned, and point 4 is not briefed. The remaining 8 points are summarized as follows:

3) The trial court erred in granting Bank’s motion for instructed verdict.
5) The verdict was against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.
6) The verdict was without evidence to support it in that the conduct of Ja-mison constituted negligence per se.
7) The verdict was defective in that no issue was submitted on which the jury could have found that the collision was caused by anything other than the negligence of one or more of the parties.
9)The trial court erred in refusing an issue for damages for lost ability to work and labor as a separate element of damage.
10) The trial court erred in permitting Jamison’s counsel to argue to the jury concerning the Bank’s dismissal from the case.
11) Certain members of the jury were guilty of misconduct in concealing from appellant’s counsel on voir dire that they had previously been defendants in lawsuits.
12)The juror Johnson was guilty of misconduct in concealing from appellant’s counsel on voir dire a previous acquaintance and professional relationship with certain members of the law firms representing appellees.

Point 3 asserts the trial court erred in granting the Bank’s motion for instructed verdict.

On January 25, 1974 both Mr. Hammond and Miss Jamison visited the Bank for business purposes at about 9 o’clock in the morning. Miss Jamison remaining in her car, utilized the Bank’s drive-up facilities. Mr. Hammond arrived at the Bank in a car driven by his wife. She parked in one of the parking spaces along the south side of the Bank’s lot. Miss Jamison had been a customer of the Bank about 4 months; Mr. Hammond had been a customer of the Bank since it opened in 1967. Mr. Hammond went into the Bank, then came out of the Bank back to his car and removed a sack of shelled pecans which he intended to deliver to someone in the Bank. On his return second trip into the Bank, as he walked across the parking lot he was bumped by the automobile driven by Miss Jamison as she exited from the Bank’s drive-in facility. Miss Jamison was travelling 2 or 3 miles per hour when she struck Mr. Hammond. He was knocked off balance and fell to the ground sustaining injuries to his arm and leg. The day was clear and sunlit. Miss Jamison’s car was plainly visible and both she and the Hammonds were familiar with the scene. Mr. Hammond had been coming to the Bank at least once a month since 1967 and parking on the parking lot, then going into the Bank to transact his business and returning to his car on the lot. The drive-in facility is located on the parking lot. The Bank parking lot and premises were exactly the same as they had been since Mr. Hammond started banking there in 1967.

Ordinarily a plaintiff-invitee cannot recover if he knows of the condition, real[199]*199izes the danger, and appreciates the danger, or is charged in law with such knowledge, realization and appreciation. Wesson v. Gillespie, Tex., 382 S.W.2d 921; Halepeska v. Callihan Interests, Inc., Tex., 371 S.W.2d 368; McKee v. Patterson, 153 Tex. 517, 271 S.W.2d 391; Houston National Bank v. Adair, 146 Tex. 387, 207 S.W.2d 374; Corley v. Laco Rentals, Inc., Tex.Civ.App. (Waco) NWH, 487 S.W.2d 446. See also, Adam Dante Corp. v. Sharpe, Tex., 483 S.W.2d 452, 457 which approves and reaffirms Wesson v. Gillespie.

In the Adair case the court assumed the dangerous condition was not open and obvious and that the area in which Mrs. Adair fell was not properly lighted. Nevertheless, Mrs. Adair had been on the stairs many times, and because of her many exposures to the condition, the court charged her with knowledge, realization and appreciation of the danger.

In the Wesson ease, where plaintiff had crossed the same area two to five times a week for four or five years, the court charged plaintiff with knowledge and appreciation.

In the case at bar the defect was not latent and Mr. Hammond had been across the parking lot and into the Bank and out of the Bank onto the parking lot at least once a month since in 1967.

Under such facts Mr. Hammond is charged with knowledge and appreciation as a matter of law.

Points 5 and 6 assert there is no evidence to support the jury’s verdict, and that same is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence; and point 7 complains that the trial court did not submit any issue on which the jury could have found that the collision was caused by anything other than the negligence of the parties.

Miss Jamison bumped Mr. Hammond when leaving the drive-in facility and travelling 2 or 3 miles per hour. She looked before she started off. The sun hit her windshield at such an angle that she was blinded. Her car had travelled a car length when she heard a noise and observed that Mr. Hammond had walked into her car and fell. There was nothing to prevent Mr. Hammond from seeing Miss Jamison’s car.

The jury was authorized to find as it did and such findings are not against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.

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Related

Robert E. McKee, General Contractor v. Patterson
271 S.W.2d 391 (Texas Supreme Court, 1954)
In Re King's Estate
244 S.W.2d 660 (Texas Supreme Court, 1951)
Halepeska v. Callihan Interests, Inc.
371 S.W.2d 368 (Texas Supreme Court, 1963)
Adam Dante Corporation v. Sharpe
483 S.W.2d 452 (Texas Supreme Court, 1972)
Childers v. TEXAS EMPLOYERS'INSURANCE ASS'N
273 S.W.2d 587 (Texas Supreme Court, 1954)
Wesson v. Gillespie
382 S.W.2d 921 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)
Houston National Bank v. Adair
207 S.W.2d 374 (Texas Supreme Court, 1948)
Corley v. Laco Rentals, Inc.
487 S.W.2d 446 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1972)

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Bluebook (online)
544 S.W.2d 196, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/warren-v-jamison-texapp-1976.