Court Opinion

ID: 9538307
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:34:37.742786+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:43.990783
License: Public Domain

GOODWYN, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the opinion except as to the holding that there is a scintilla of evidence to support count 1 and that it was not error to refuse defendant’s requested affirmative charge as to that count. My view is that there is an absence of proof of the material averments of count 1 that defendant was negligent in “failing to provide supports or other devices to maintain the walls or sides of said excavation in place and to prevent the same from giving way or caving in at said time and place.” The opinion does not point out, and I fail to find, evidence, or reasonable inference from evidence, that defendant had the duty of providing such supports or devices or that shoring up or supporting the walls of the ditch would have prevented the cave-in. My view is that defendant’s requested affirmative charge as to count 1 should have been given.
In view of the court’s holding with respect to count 1, there is no occasion to discuss whether a contrary holding would have resulted in a referral of the verdict to count 2 or a reversal of the judgment.