Western Alliance Insurance Co. v. Jecker

362 S.W.2d 137, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1940
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 10, 1962
DocketNo. 5516
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 362 S.W.2d 137 (Western Alliance Insurance Co. v. Jecker) 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
Western Alliance Insurance Co. v. Jecker, 362 S.W.2d 137, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1940 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

CLAYTON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Refugio County, Texas in which appellee was awarded benefits under the Workmen’s Compensation Act against appellant, an insurance carrier, for the death of her husband, Lawrence K. Jecker, who succumbed from injuries received in an automobile collision which occurred on September 16, 1958. Appeal was originally perfected to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fourth Supreme Judicial District at San Antonio and was transferred to the Eighth Judicial District at El Paso by order of the Supreme Court of Texas for the purpose of equalizing the docket.

Trial in the district court was to a jury. Certain matters having been stipulated, the [138]*138trial judge confined his charge to three special issues. In answer to Special Issue No. 1, the jury found that at the time of the fatal accident the deceased was in the course of his employment with Bay Chevrolet, Incorporated, an automobile and appliance business of Palacios, Texas. In answer to Special Issue No. 2 the jury found that the plaintiff would suffer manifest hardship and injury if the compensation awarded, if any, were not paid in a lump sum, and the jury further found, in answer to Special Issue No. 3, that the deceased was not “in a state of' intoxication” at the time of the accident. This last-mentioned special issue was deemed by the trial court to be necessary, under the evidence, by virtue of the provision of the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Law, Article 8309, Texas Revised Civil Statutes, Sec. 1: “The term ‘injury sustained in the course of employment,’ as used in this Act, shall not include * * * 3. an injury received while in a state of intoxication.”

After denying a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, the trial court entered judgment for plaintiff on the verdict, from which judgment this appeal is taken.

Appellant’s Points of Error Nos. Two and Three are directed at the jury’s .finding, in answer to Special Issue No. 1, that deceased was in the course of his employment at the time of the fatal accident, asserting that there was no evidence to support such finding and that the same was so contrary to the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust and unfair.

Since our ruling on these two points of error is, we believe, determinative of this case, these points of error will be discussed first.

Deceased was employed as a salesman, delivery man and service man in the appliance department of the Bay Chevrolet Company of Palacios, Texas, under the direct supervision of Charles Luther, President and Manager of the corporation. In March 1958 the deceased arranged with his employer to sell to and install an electric range in the home of the nephew of the deceased’s wife, one Wallace Shay, who lived in Refugio, Texas. The deceased made the trip to Refugio and with the aid of a helper delivered and installed the range and entered on a charge ticket against the company an item for labor for the helper. Mr. Luther testified that an item of $3.20 was also entered in the company’s books as an expenditure for gasoline used in the company pickup truck in making the trip. In June of 1958 the deceased made another trip to Refugio to replace a broken control panel on the range. A charge ticket made out in connection with this trip showed an item of $3.20 for gasoline for the trip, but the record is not clear whether the pickup truck or the personal car of the deceased was used for transportation on this trip. On the day he received his fatal injuries, September 16, 1958, the deceased made another trip to Refugio to again replace the control panel and a switch and surface unit on the range and it was while he was returning to Palacios that he received, in an automobile collision, the injuries from which he died. His personal car was being used for this trip. Sometime after the death of her husband, Mrs. Jecker presented a “slip ticket” to Mr. Luther for reimbursement for gasoline used by the deceased and charged on his personal credit card. This reimbursement was not made, Mrs. Jecker testifying that she thought Mr. Luther stated, “We won’t quibble about a small thing like that.”

In any event, had the employer actually paid or agreed to pay the employee for gasoline consumed on trips outside of the employer’s place of business and pursuant to the requirements of his employment, this would not take this case out of the provisions of the general rule in Texas that in cases arising under the Workmen’s Compensation Law compensation is not allowed for injuries to employees while going to or returning from the place of their employment. Republic Underwriters v. Terrell, [139]*139126 S.W.2d 752 (Tex.Civ.App.1939, n. w. h.).

Before the amendment in 1957 of Article 8309, Workmen’s Compensation Law, which added Section lb to said Act, the Supreme Court of Texas, in an opinion written by the now Chief Justice, in the case of American General Insurance Company v. Coleman, 157 Tex. 377, 303 S.W.2d 370, sets out the following:

“The general rule is well settled that an injury incurred in the use of public streets or highways in going to and returning from the place of employment is not a compensable injury because not incurred in the course of the employment as required by Article 8309, Vernon’s Annotated Texas Statutes. (Citing cases). There are exceptions to the rule. An injury incurred in going to or returning from work is held to be in the course of a workman’s employment where the means of transportation is furnished by the employer. (Citing cases). So, also, where the employer pays another to transport the injured employee. Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Inge, 146 Tex. 347, 208 S.W.2d 867. An injury is held to be in the course of a workman’s employment if in going to or returning from his place of employment or his place of residence he undertakes a special mission at the direction of his employer, or performs a service in furtherance of his employer’s business with the express or implied approval of his employer. (Citing cases). This exception to the general rule is well stated in the opinion of the Court in the case last cited, where it is said: ‘In Texas it is held that an accidental injury resulting from the hazards of the public streets is compensable if the employee at the time of the injury is actually engaged in the performance of a duty required by his contract of employment, or is engaged upon some mission incidental to his employment, of substantial benefit to, and with the express or implied approval of, his employer.’ [Associated Indemnity Corp. v. Bush, 5 Cir.] 201 F.2d [843] 844.”

See also: St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. v. Dorman, 341 S.W.2d 480 (Civ.App.1960) (ref’d. n. r. e.)

In the instant case the means of transportation of the deceased was not furnished by the employer, nor did the employer pay anyone else to transport the deceased, nor was there any “special mission” at the direction of the employer in the trip taken by the deceased from Palacios to Refugio and return; nor was the trip even urged by the employer.

Effective September 1, 1957 Section lb was added to Article 8309 of the Workmen’s Compensation Law, and provides as follows:

“Sec. lb.

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Related

Western Alliance Insurance Co. v. Jecker
371 S.W.2d 904 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1963)
Jecker v. Western Alliance Insurance Company
369 S.W.2d 776 (Texas Supreme Court, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
362 S.W.2d 137, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1940, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-alliance-insurance-co-v-jecker-texapp-1962.