Wm. H. McGee & Co., Inc. v. Schick

792 S.W.2d 513, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1341, 1990 WL 71632
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 31, 1990
Docket11-88-087-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 792 S.W.2d 513 (Wm. H. McGee & Co., Inc. v. Schick) 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
Wm. H. McGee & Co., Inc. v. Schick, 792 S.W.2d 513, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1341, 1990 WL 71632 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

OPINION

McCLOUD, Chief Justice.

J.H. Schick d/b/a The Schick Drilling Company sued his insurer, Baloise Insurance Company of America, and the insurer’s agent, Wm. H. McGee & Co., Inc., for unfair claims settlement practices. Judgment was rendered in favor of Schick against McGee and Baloise, jointly and severally, for actual damages of $320,000.00 plus $128,000.00 in attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest of $44,268.88. Pursuant to TEX.INS. CODE ANN. art. 21.21, § 16(b)(1) (Vernon Supp.1990), the trial court awarded Schick $728,537.76, “two times the amount of actual damages,” against each defendant severally. The trial court further ordered that Baloise, the insurer, pay Schick an additional $16,800.00 as a penalty as provided for in TEX.INS. CODE ANN. art. 3.62 (Vernon 1981) because of the insurer’s delay in paying the loss. Schick concedes that his losses are not covered by Article 3.62, and he agrees that the judgment should be reformed to eliminate the $16,800.00 penalty award.

Schick insured his drilling rig for $140,-000.00 with Baloise through McGee. A blowout occurred on June 25, 1986, while Schick was drilling a well. The blowout lasted for approximately 22 hours. During this time, the drilling rig was exposed to large quantities of hydrogen sulfide gas. McGee, who acted as a managing general agent for a pool of insurance companies including Baloise, employed Permian Claim Service to investigate the claim. Permian Claim Service assigned the claim to its employee, Sherman Lee Smith. Schick told Smith that he wanted a metallurgist to inspect the rig because he was concerned about possible structural failure that could result in personal injuries if the rig was unsafe. Smith employed certain engineers to inspect the rig, but he did not seek the opinion of a metallurgist. Schick employed Dr. Edward Cox, a metallurgical engineer, to examine metal samples cut from various parts of the rig. Dr. Cox testified extensively as to the effect of the hydrogen sulfide gas on the rig. He concluded that, because of the blowout and the intense exposure to the hydrogen sulfide gas, the drilling rig was not safe to operate and could not be economically refurbished. The defendants produced engineers at trial who disagreed with Dr. Cox’ opinion.

Mitchell Mannes, regional claims manager for McGee, testified that McGee was the managing general agent for Baloise. Mannes supervised the Schick claim. Mannes admitted at trial that Schick's rig was damaged as a result of the blowout. He testified that they had received an estimate dated September 2, 1986, from Inger-[516]*516soil Rand International that the rig could be repaired for approximately $45,000.00. On August 18, 1986, Schick’s attorney sent a letter to Mannes which included Schick’s proof of loss where he stated that the rig’s cash value before the blowout was $140,-000.00 and that it had “$0” value immediately following the blowout. The attorney instructed Mannes that neither Mannes nor his agents should contact Schick directly and that all contact regarding the claim should be made through the attorney. There is no evidence that either McGee or Baloise ever offered Schick any amount of money in settlement of Schick’s claim.

We reverse and render in part and reform and affirm in part.

Dr. Cox testified that his laboratory examinations revealed that the exposure of the rig to hydrogen sulfide gas caused “rapid corrosion attacks” to occur to the rig. He described some of the welds as having a “scaly type of corrosion, a very rapid, extreme, yet fast, corrosion attack on the surface.” He found “ringworm corrosion” which “goes in and excavates into the material, chews out great big chunks of it, just like a crane digging down into the ground.” He stated that the ringworm corrosion was caused by a “rapid corrosion attack” which in his opinion resulted from the blowout.

In the first point of error, McGee and Baloise urge that the trial court erred by not submitting a tendered instruction to the jury. The statement of facts shows that, during the charge conference, Schick objected to an instruction contained in the “proposed charge.” Following a discussion, the trial court deleted the following instruction:

You are instructed in connection with the foregoing Special Issue that you shall not consider loss or damage to the property caused by or resulting from corrosion, rust, dampness of the atmosphere, extremes of temperature, or expansion or contraction caused by changes in the temperature.

The insurance policy in question contained the following exclusion:

(C) Loss or damage to the property insured caused by or resulting from wear and tear, inherent vice, gradual deterioration, corrosion, rust, dampness of the atmosphere, extremes of temperature, or expansion or contraction caused by changes in temperature. (Emphasis added)

Schick argues that, by omitting from the instruction the words “wear and tear, inherent vice, gradual deterioration,” the instruction in the “proposed charge” did not accurately reflect the context of the exclusion. We agree. The policy was an “all risks” policy and expressly included a “blowout.” The instruction, therefore, was not a “substantially correct” instruction. TEX.R.CIV.P. 278. We note that while testifying by deposition, Mannes agreed that they had no corrosion defense because the corrosion exclusion in the policy referred to damages as a “result of wear and tear, gradual deterioration beyond any external cause.”

Furthermore, the instruction contained in the proposed charge related only to the breach of contract questions which asked the jury to find the value of the rig before and after the blowout. The judgment was not based upon these questions. The judgment was based upon the jury’s actual damage finding. The instruction was not tendered or requested as to these questions.

Also, TEX.R.CIV.P. 273 provides that a request for instructions shall be made separate and apart from a party’s objections to the court’s charge. Templeton v. Unigard Security Insurance Company, 550 S.W.2d 267 (Tex.1976); Breithaupt v. Navarro County, 675 S.W.2d 335 (Tex.App.—Waco 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The record fails to show that McGee and Baloise submitted their request in writing separate and apart from their objections to the court’s charge. Defendants’ first point of error is overruled.

Article 21.21 § 16(b) Statutory Damages (Two Times the Amount of Actual Damages)

The jury found in Subpart A of Question No. 7 that both McGee and Bal-oise, individually, made or caused to be [517]*517made a “statement and/or representation which was untrue, deceptive or misleading.” 1 In Subpart B of Question No. 7, the jury determined that the defendants had engaged in “unfair and/or deceptive acts or practices in the handling of Plaintiff’s claim.” 2 In Question No. 8 which included the statutory definition of “knowingly” found in TEX.INS. CODE ANN. art. 21.21, § 2(c) (Vernon Supp.1990), the jury found that each defendant knowingly engaged in the conduct found in Questions Nos. 7A and 7B.

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Wm. H. McGee & Co., Inc. v. Schick
792 S.W.2d 513 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
792 S.W.2d 513, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1341, 1990 WL 71632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wm-h-mcgee-co-inc-v-schick-texapp-1990.