Western Construction Co. v. Valero Transmission Co.

655 S.W.2d 251
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 28, 1983
Docket2419cv
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 655 S.W.2d 251 (Western Construction Co. v. Valero Transmission Co.) 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 Construction Co. v. Valero Transmission Co., 655 S.W.2d 251 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

UTTER, Justice.

An underground pipeline owned by appel-lee was struck and ruptured by a bulldozer driven by one of appellant’s employees. The jury awarded appellee actual damages of $35,581.08 and exemplary damages of $25,000. We affirm the award of actual damages, but reverse the award of exemplary damages.

In its first and second points of error, appellant contends that there was no evidence to support the submission to the jury of Special Issue Six, which asked the jury to find the value of the natural gas lost because of the pipeline rupture. Mr. John Philips testified that his duties as manager of appellee’s Gas Measurement Department included calculating gas volume based on measurement charts. Appellant concedes that Mr. Philips was competent to testify about the amount of gas lost from the rupture, but argues that his testimony on the value of the gas lost was inadmissible hearsay.

Mr. Philips testified that he calculated the amount of gas lost from the rupture caused by appellant to be 35,655,000 cubic feet (one thousand cubic feet will hereafter be abbreviated as “MCF”); that he received a dollar-per-MCF figure of $2.08 from the Regulatory Affairs Department; and that he multiplied the number of MCF’s lost by $2.08 to arrive at the value of the MCF’s lost. On cross-examination, Mr. Philips testified that he had no personal knowledge of the sales price for gas at the time of the rupture, and that he simply accepted the figure of $2.08 per MCF.

Appellant failed to object to this testimony at trial, but now argues that the testimony of Mr. Philips is inadmissible hearsay. Appellant further contends that since Mr. Philips’ testimony was the only evidence on value, there was no evidence to support the Special Issue under which the jury was to find the value of the lost gas.

Prior to trial and in response to appellant’s interrogatories as to the amount of damages sustained by reason of the rupture of the line, appellee included a three-page exhibit. Included in the exhibit was an invoice showing that gas loss from damage inflicted by appellant was 12,900 MCF’s at slightly over $2.08 per MCF, or $26,897.79. Appellant introduced the invoice into evidence as Defendant’s Exhibit Number Four.

Documentary evidence is generally held to be conclusive against the party introducing it. Thus, if one of the parties to a lawsuit introduces written evidence without limiting its purpose, he will be bound by the facts recited in that evidence. Green v. State, 589 S.W.2d 160 (Tex.Civ.App. — Tyler 1979, no writ); Hidalgo County v. Pate, 443 S.W.2d 80 (Tex.Civ.App. — Corpus Christi 1969, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Blume v. Weaver, 412 S.W.2d 760 (Tex.Civ.App. — Eastland 1967, no writ).

Appellant did not limit the purposes for which the invoice was introduced, and he is bound by the facts therein recited. Furthermore, since we are reviewing a “no evidence” point, we must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the support of the jury’s findings. Miller v. Riata Cadillac Company, 517 S.W.2d 773 (Tex.1975). We hold that the jury could properly find from the admitted evidence that the value of the gas lost by appellee as a result of the rupture was approximately $2.08 per MCF. *254 Appellant’s first and second points of error are overruled.

In his third, fourth, and fifth points of error, appellant challenges the award of exemplary damages to appellee. In his third point of error, appellant complains of a failure of the trial court to submit issues to the jury concerning the alleged reckless conduct of the appellant’s employees. Specifically, appellant is asserting that exemplary damages cannot be awarded against a corporation without certain prior findings by the jury.

In King v. McGuff, 149 Tex. 432, 234 S.W.2d 403 (1950), it was held that a finding of liability by a corporation for exemplary damages must be predicated on one of the following findings:

“(1) The principal authorized the doing in manner of the act or
(2) the agent was unfit and the principal was reckless in employing him or
(3) the agent was employed in a managerial capacity and was acting within the scope of his employment or
(4) the employer or a manager ratified or approved the act.”

The appellant properly requested an issue on these questions, which was denied. Appellant again pointed out the alleged error in their omission by motion to disregard the jury findings and for entry of judgment notwithstanding the findings of the jury. Therefore, this issue, if necessary, would not have been found by implication. The only other possibility which would excuse the failure to submit the issues, if necessary, would be that the facts in question were conclusively established under the evidence. See Rule 279, Tex.R.Civ.P.

The evidence clearly establishes that Glenn Hyden was a superintendent for appellant and was supervisor over the project at issue. However, the evidence does not, as a matter of law, establish that Hyden committed any negligent act. The only issue on negligence submitted to the jury was Special Issue Number One which reads as follows:

“On the occasion in question was Western Construction Company, acting through its employees, negligent in striking and rupturing the pipeline after it had acquired notice, if any, of its presence?

The jury answered yes to said issue and the answer was the predicate for their subsequent finding of gross negligence and their award for exemplary damages.

The question we must answer is whether or not Special Issue Number One sufficiently comports with the requirements of McGuff so as to support the findings of gross negligence and an award of exemplary damages. We hold that it does not. It is apparent from the McGuff case and the cases which have followed McGuff, that this is an issue upon which very specific findings must be made by the fact finder. See Purvis v. Prattco, Inc., 595 S.W.2d 103 (Tex.1980); Fisher v. Carrousel Motor Hotel, Inc., 424 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.1967), Bass v. Metzger, 569 S.W.2d 917 (Tex.Civ.App.— Corpus Christi 1978, writ ref’d n.r.e.); K-Mart # 4195 v. Judge, 515 S.W.2d 148 (Tex.Civ.App. — Beaumont 1974, writ dism’d); see also Restatement (2d) of Torts, Section 909, where the question is one for the jury then the issue must be submitted in some form approximating that set out in McGuff.

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Bluebook (online)
655 S.W.2d 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-construction-co-v-valero-transmission-co-texapp-1983.