Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Pepper

101 S.W.2d 365
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1937
DocketNo. 13476
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 101 S.W.2d 365 (Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Pepper) 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
Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Pepper, 101 S.W.2d 365 (Tex. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinions

SPEER, Justice.

A. C. Pepper sued the Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Railway Company and the Wichita Valley Railway Company in the district court of Clay county, Tex., 'for damages to his growing crops during the year 1935, because of flood waters covering his lands, alleged to he on account of the negligence of defendants.

Plaintiff was a tenant on lands adjacent to Red river with defendants’ railway tracks extending along his east or southeast line. It is alleged that the natural fall of plaintiff’s lands is toward the railway tracks; that defendants had failed to provide the necessary drainage and slqice ways through the dump or fill upon which their tracks were laid to permit the escape of water falling on plaintiff’s lands, and that the defendants had previously opened a borrow pit or drainage ditch on the north side of their tracks, adjacent to plaintiff’s farm, for the purpose of conveying surplus water back into the river; that a few days prior to June 13, 1935, defendants had caused a large quantity of heavy timbers to be unloaded from their cars into the drainage ditch, and that on said June 13, 1935, a heavy rain fell and the borrow pits and drainage ditch were filled with water as it flowed in its natural course from plaintiff’s lands. It is alleged that the timbers placed in said borrow pits formed a dam therein and prevented the escape of said water in its natural flow back into the' river, causing it to spread over plaintiff’s growing crops of corn, cotton, and a three-acre garden; that the water stood on the crops until the corn and cotton were both badly damaged and the garden was totally destroyed.

The defendants answered by general denial, and a special plea in a trial amendment. The issue made by the latter was determined against defendants and no complaint is made here of that part of the verdict and it becomes unnecessary for us to refer to it again.

The case was submitted to a jury on special issues, the first nine of which pertained to the acts of the defendants charged by plaintiff to have constituted negligence. These issues were all answered favorable to the plaintiff.

Issues 10, 10A, 11, and 12 related to damage to the corn, and the loss found by the verdict in this respect is not complained of by defendants.

The six assignments of error presented challenge the right of the court to render judgment for the amount of damages found by the verdict for loss to the cotton and garden, based upon the fact that the court did not submit an issue inquiring the amount of cotton actually raised by plaintiff, and did not submit an issue inquiring what amount of expense would have been incurred in the further cultivation and canning of the vegetables in the garden tract.

Defendants contend the court was without authority to enter judgment without a-jury determination of these particular facts.

Defendants earnestly insist that the-only way to arrive at the damages sustained by plaintiff in a partial loss of crops is to ascertain the probable yield but for the negligence of another, and then to inquire what amount was actually produced under the circumstances along with the necessary expense of cultivation, harvesting, and marketing and deduct this from' what the yield should have been and the remainder would give the loss, citing us to-cases of International & G. N. R. Co. v. Pape, 73 Tex. 501, 11 S.W. 526; Missouri, K. & T. Ry. Co. v. Gilbert, 58 Tex.Civ. App. 467, 124 S.W. 434, and others of similar import.

We think the principles announced in-those cases are correct. The reason for the holding is obvious. The general rule-that the damages would be the difference between the value of the crops immediately before and immediately after the injuries' would be difficult of ascertainment, except in this way.

By special issue No. 13, inquiry was made as to what number- of bales of cotton, of an average weight of 500 pounds, would the plaintiff have made had it not been for the negligence of defendants, and the answer was “ 28 bales.”

Special issue No. 14 inquired what amount of expense would have been incurred after the overflow in the cultivation,, gathering,- and marketing of the cotton. The answer was “$586.10.” Inquiry was-then made as to the value per pound of [367]*367cotton at that time. The answer was “11 cents per pound.”

This being a suit for partial damages to crops and not for total loss, it is contended by defendants that no proper judgment could be rendered on the verdict of the jury as to the loss sustained to the cotfon crop, because there was no issue submitted to the jury inquiring what amount of cotton was actually raised by plaintiff on the lands, and that the court could not take that question from the jury and determine it himself for the purpose of rendering a judgment on other issues answered. We cannot agree with defendants ⅛ this contention, and shall give our reasons for our dissent.

The testimony of plaintiff, which in this respect is uncontradicted, shows plaintiff gathered three bales of cotton from the premises. The defendants in their brief make an extensive and complete' calculation in the form of an account as to the probable elements the court must have considered in arriving at the judgment entered. The plaintiff agrees that the statement so made is substantially correct. We have verified these figures by the record and find they are well supported by the testimony. It was found by the jury that plaintiff should have made 28 bales of cotton; that it would require an expense of $586.10 to cultivate, harvest, and market the cotton after the date of the overflow, had it not been damaged; that the cotton would have been worth $55 per bale. The court, in making up his judgment, deducted from the 28 bales the 3 bales shown to have been made and gathered, leaving a loss to plaintiff of his three-fourths interest in the remaining 25 bales and from the value of these he deducted the expense found by the jury to be necessary in cultivating, harvesting, and marketing, the result found by the court being a net loss on the cotton to plaintiff of $445.65.

As stated above, defendants challenge the right of the court, in the absence of a jury finding that 3 bales were made, to take this item into consideration, the effect of which was to conclude this part of plaintiff’s testimony was absolutely true. The defendants further contend that in the absence of the establishment of that item to the satisfaction of the jury there was no basis upon which the court could enter judgment for plaintiff on the item of'loss to the cotton crop. This question involves a construction of articles 2185, 2186, and 2190, Rev.Civ.Statutes,. pertaining to the charges of the court and special issues. In the very nature of things our courts have often had occasion to discuss these provisions, and we believe they have been definitely decided against the contention of defendants.

Article 2190 provides, among other things: “Upon appeal or writ of error, an issue not submitted and not requested is deemed as found by the court in such manner as to support the judgment if there is evidence to sustain such finding.”

The question then arises as to what type of issue material to a plaintiff’s cause of action or defendants’ defense does the above-quoted provision of the statute apply? In many cases there are more than one ground of recovery alleged by plaintiff and often several grounds of defense by defendants.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Texas Attorney General Reports, 1942
Love v. Spur Independent School Dist.
143 S.W.2d 793 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1940)
Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Railway Co. v. Pepper
135 S.W.2d 79 (Texas Supreme Court, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 S.W.2d 365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wichita-falls-oklahoma-ry-co-v-pepper-texapp-1937.