Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Mitchell

35 S.W. 4, 89 Tex. 441, 1896 Tex. LEXIS 377
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 9, 1896
DocketApplication No. 986.
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 35 S.W. 4 (Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Mitchell, 35 S.W. 4, 89 Tex. 441, 1896 Tex. LEXIS 377 (Tex. 1896).

Opinion

BROWN, Associate Justice.

The Court of Civil Appeals for the Third District reversed the judgment of the District Court in this case- and remanded the cause for a new trial. It was objected in the Court of Civil Appeals, that that court could not consider the eighth assignment of error as presented by the appellant, because the error complained of was not specified in the motion for new trial filed in the District Court. The assignment questioned the correctness of the qualification by the-district judge of a charge asked by the plaintiff and given by the court. The "Court of Civil Appeals for the Third District, over the appellee’s objection, considered that assignment. To give this court jurisdiction of the application for writ of error, it is alleged that this ruling of the Court of Civil Appeals is in conflict with the decisions of the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fourth Supreme Judicial District in the following cases: Railway v. Worley, 25 S. W. Rep., 479; Hammond v. Garcia, 25 S. W. Rep., 824. Upon examination of'the cases we find the ruling of the two courts in conflict upon this question, which gives jurisdiction to this court to consider the application for writ of error, where the judgment of the trial court has been reversed and the case remanded.

We find no error in the action of the Court of Civil Appeals in this, ease upon any of the questions presented by the application for writ of error, and it must be refused; but we think it proper to state our views, upon the question on which the two courts are in conflict.

The question is, Can the Courts of Civil Appeals consider an assignment of error based upon the action of the trial court in giving, qualifying, or refusing charges when such action was not specified in the motion for new trial in the District Court? The Court of Civil Appeals for the-Fourth District has held that such assignment cannot be considered. (See cases above cited.)

The provisions of our Revised Statutes which bear upon the quection. are as follows:

“Art. 1370. New trials may be granted and judgments may be set aside or arrested on motion, for good cause, on such terms and conditions as the court shall direct.”

“Art. 1371. Every such motion shall be in writing and signed by the-party or his attorney, and shall specify the grounds upon which it is *443 founded, and no grounds other than those specified shall he heard or considered.”

“Art. 1363. The ruling of the court in the giving, refusing, or qualifying of instructions to the jury shall he regarded as excepted to in all cases.”

“Art. 1018. The appellant or plaintiff in error shall in all cases file with the clerk of the court helow all assignments of error, distinctly specifying the grounds upon which he relies, before he takes the transcript of the record from the clerk’s office; all errors not distinctly specified are waived.”

The Supreme Court has prescribed the following rules, which bear upon the question:

“Buies for the Government of the District Courts.”
“67. Bach ground of a motion for a new trial or in arrest of judgment shall briefly refer to that part of the ruling of the court, charge given to the jury, or charge refused, admission or rejection of evidence, or other proceedings which are designed to be complained of in such way as that the point of objection can be clearly identified and understood by the court.”
“68. Grounds of objections couched in general terms, as, that the court erred in its charge, and in sustaining or overruling exceptions to the pleadings, and in excluding or admitting evidence", that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the evidence, or the verdict of the jury is contrary to law, and the like, shall not be considered by the court.”
“Buies for the Courts of Civil Appeals.”
“24. The assignment of errors must distinctly specify the grounds of error relied on, and a ground of error not distinctly specified in reference to that which is shown in the record, or not specified at all, shall be considered as waived, unless it be so fundamental as that the court would act upon it without an assignment of error, as1 mentioned in rule 23.”
“25. To be a distinct specification of error, it must point out that part of the proceedings contained in the record in which the error is complained of, in a particular manner, so as to identify whether it be the rulings of the court upon motion or upon any particular part of the pleadings or upon the admission or rejection of the evidence or upon any other matter relating to the cause or its trial, or the portion of the charge given or refused, etc.”

Article 1363 makes it unnecessary to take 4 bill of exceptions to the action of the court in giving, refusing or qualifying charges, but such action becomes a part of the record as a matter of law, the same as if a bill of exceptions had been taken.

Article 1371 and rules 67 and 68 for the District Court have reference alone to the preparation of, and to the action of the trial court upon the motion for new trial—that is, the party who makes the motion must *444 distinctly specify the grounds, and cannot call upon that court to consider any matter which is not so specified in the motion.

Article 1018 and rules 24 and 25 for the Courts of Civil Appeals govern the action of that court. Article 1018 does not, in terms nor by implication, restrict the assignments of error to those matters set up in the motion for new trial, but leaves it subject to the control of the Supreme Court under its power to make rules for the government of the different courts. In the exercise of that power, the Supreme Court adopted rules 24 and 25, which limit the consideration of errors to those matters which are properly assigned in accordance with the rules of the court and which appear in the record of the case. The record referred to is not restricted to such matters as are specified in the motion for new trial, but embraces all the errors of the court trying a case which are made to appear upon the record in the manner prescribed by law or the rules of the court.

It has been held by this court that it would not upon appeal or writ of error consider assignments based upon the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, unless that ground was specified in the motion for new trial. King v. Gray, 17 Texas, 62; Clark & Loftus v. Pearce, 80 Texas, 151. But this ruling has not been applied to those matters upon which the trial court has directly acted and which are made properly to appear in the record of the case. Allen v. Stephanes, 18 Texas, 670; Clark & Loftus v. Pearce, supra.

In the case last cited, Judge Gaines, after laying down the rule stated above, states the reasons for the distinction between it and that applicable in this case in the following language: “In regard to the ruling of the court upon exceptions to the pleadings, the admission of evidence, and in the giving or refusal of instructions, a different rule prevails.

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Bluebook (online)
35 S.W. 4, 89 Tex. 441, 1896 Tex. LEXIS 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-union-telegraph-co-v-mitchell-tex-1896.