Williams v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co.

804 S.W.2d 132, 1990 WL 97550
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 24, 1991
Docket01-88-00968-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 804 S.W.2d 132 (Williams v. Southern Pacific Transportation 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
Williams v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co., 804 S.W.2d 132, 1990 WL 97550 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

DUGGAN, Justice.

This is an appeal from a take-nothing judgment entered on a jury verdict in a personal injury case. We deny the motion for rehearing, withdraw our earlier opinion dated September 14, 1989, and issue this.

On June 22, 1981, appellant, Byron Williams, was unloading a railway hopper car filled with limestone for his employer, Radcliff Materials, Inc. (“Radcliff”). The hopper car overturned and fell on Williams and a co-worker, injuring Williams and killing the co-worker. Appellee Southern Pacific Transportation Company (“Southern Pacific”) owned the hopper car, which ap-pellee Greenville Steel Car Company (“Greenville”) had manufactured.

Williams filed suit for damages against Southern Pacific and Greenville, alleging: (1)strict liability based on defective design, manufacture, and marketing of the hopper car; (2) negligence; and (3) gross negligence.

In answers to special issues, the jury found that: (1) Southern Pacific and Green-ville were not negligent, and Williams was negligent (Special Issue No. 1); (2) the hopper car manufactured by Greenville, and supplied by Southern Pacific, was not defectively designed (Special Issue No. 4); (3) neither Southern Pacific nor Greenville knew or should have known that the hopper car would turn over while unloading (Special Issue No. 5); (6) Williams’ injuries were caused by his own negligence (Special Issue No. 2); and (7) Williams was not entitled to damages for his injuries (Special Issue No. 11). The trial court entered judgment in favor of Southern Pacific and Greenville against Williams. Williams appeals, asserting eight points of error.

Points of Error One, Two, Three, and Seven

In points of error one, two, three, and seven, Williams urges that the answers to certain special issues were established in his favor as a matter of law or, alternatively, that the jury’s findings against him were against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. Those issues inquired whether:

(1) the hopper car manufactured by Greenville and supplied by Southern Pacific was defectively designed (point of error one);
(2) Southern Pacific and Greenville either knew or should have known that the hopper car could turn over while unloading (point of error two);
(3) Southern Pacific and Greenville were negligent (point of error three); and
(4) Williams sustained damages (point of error seven).

In a jury trial, legal insufficiency points must be preserved through a motion for instructed verdict, a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, an objection to submission of an issue to the jury, a motion to disregard the jury’s answer to a vital fact issue, or a motion for a new trial. Salinas v. Fort Worth Cab & Baggage Co., 725 S.W.2d 701, 704 (Tex.1987). Williams preserved his “no evidence” points of error one, two, and three for appeal by his motion for a new trial. However, Williams did not utilize any of these measures to preserve the “no evidence” portion of his complaint as to the jury’s finding of zero damages in Special Issue No. 11. Therefore, point of error seven will not be considered on appeal. Id.

*135 Even if the “no evidence” portion of point of error seven were to be considered, Williams would not be entitled to a reversal. While he contends that the zero damage award “infers that they [the jury] entered a judgment rather than a verdict,” and “may be cause for suspicion that the answer was induced by prejudice or by improper influence,” quoting Southern Pine Lumber Co. v. Andrade, 132 Tex. 372, 374, 124 S.W.2d 334, 335 (Tex.Comm’n App.1939, opinion adopted), he concedes that “such conduct alone does not constitute reversible error.” However, he argues that reversal is required when such conduct is taken in conjunction with the contested findings, erroneous as a matter of law and fact, that neither Southern Pacific nor Greenville was negligent. Williams is denied the benefit of this predicate because we decide these claims adversely to him in points of error two and three, which follow. Johnson v. Whitehurst, 652 S.W.2d 441, 449 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1983, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

When an appellant attacks the legal sufficiency of an adverse finding on an issue on which he had the burden of proof, he must demonstrate on appeal that the evidence conclusively established all vital facts in support of the issue. Ritchey v. Crawford, 734 S.W.2d 85, 86 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1987, no writ). In reviewing a legal sufficiency point relating to an issue on which the appellant had the burden of proof, this Court first examines the record for evidence that supports the jury finding, while ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Holley v. Watts, 629 S.W.2d 694, 696 (Tex.1982).

Because points of error one, two, three, and seven, as well as two others of Williams’ eight points, concern the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence, we begin by reviewing such evidence. The testimony conflicted regarding whether the hopper car was defectively designed, whether Greenville (when it sold the hopper car) or Southern Pacific (when it supplied the car) knew or should have known that the hopper car could turn over while unloading, whether either Greenville or Southern Pacific was negligent, whether any such defective design or negligence was the producing cause of Williams’ injuries, and whether Williams himself caused the accident. Employees of Southern Pacific, Greenville, and Radcliff, as well as outside consultants, testified in person and by deposition.

Prior to trial, the parties stipulated that a Class H-100-36 open top hopper car (no. 466439) overturned while being unloaded at Radcliff’s facilities in June 1981. They also stipulated that a similar car overturned while being unloaded at Radcliff’s facilities in May 1981. The testimony of Roland Townsend, Radcliff’s general manager at the time of the accidents, indicated that Southern Pacific supplied the hopper cars to Radcliff after the two companies signed a contract in June 1980. The record does not show when Greenville sold hopper car no. 466439 to Southern Pacific.

Charles Day, Southern Pacific’s division mechanical officer, testified that he investigated the hopper car that overturned in June 1981, and found nothing mechanically wrong with it. Based on his observation of hopper cars during his many years with the railroad, he also stated that there was nothing wrong with the design of the hopper car. Day concluded that uneven unloading caused the accident. He further stated that, in addition to the May and June 1981 incidents, he knew of two occurrences since 1975 when uneven loads caused cars to turn over. Day also testified that he did not know whether Southern Pacific warned users of hopper cars that the cars could turn over while unloading, but that he personally had cautioned some users that the cars could turn over if unloaded unevenly.

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

Related

Jaimes v. Fiesta Mart, Inc.
21 S.W.3d 301 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Bartley v. Euclid, Inc.
158 F.3d 261 (Fifth Circuit, 1998)
Sims v. Washex MacHinery Corp.
932 S.W.2d 559 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Harris County Flood Control District v. Glenbrook Patiohome Owners Ass'n
933 S.W.2d 570 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Burroughs Wellcome Co. v. Crye
912 S.W.2d 251 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Ramsey v. Lucky Stores, Inc.
853 S.W.2d 623 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
804 S.W.2d 132, 1990 WL 97550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-southern-pacific-transportation-co-texapp-1991.