Court Opinion

ID: 9668919
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:31:49.662831+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:50.075230
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
Woolco says that our opinion inaccurately states that the gondola and the floor were of the same color, when in truth the floor was tan or varying shades of dark brown with a wide stripe extending along the floor to distinguish the two. Certainly the parties are entitled to a correct factual statement.
Since the jury answered the issues contrary to Woolco’s inferences and versions of the evidence, and since the trial court rendered judgment notwithstanding those findings, it is our duty to view the evidence most favorably to the plaintiff. ,In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660 (1952).
*542The defendant Woolco introduced a photograph of an empty gondola to portray the situation as it existed on the day of the accident. Attached to the statement of facts is what appears to be a xerox copy of an original photograph. This is the only evidence of a photograph in this record, and it shows that the floor and gondola are the same color. The photo shows that the gondola is astride a rather wide dark stripe which runs along the floor. Plaintiff testified that she did not recall such a stripe running out from the gondola on the day of the accident. When Woolco’s counsel tried to establish his contention by cross-examination of one of plaintiffs witnesses, the witness afforded direct answers which supported the jury findings and the facts expressed in this court’s opinion. That evidence was:
Q. Well, now, you testified today about the color of the gondola—
A. Yes, sir.
Q. —and that it blended with the floor. Obviously you must have noticed the floor.
A. We looked at the gondola that day and it was just about the same color as the flooring.
Q. Well, was the floor one single color?
A. I would say so.
Q. There weren’t any off-colored stripes or anything that weren’t any different a color?
A. No.
* * * * * *
Q. How about the floor. Is the floor the same way it looked at the time as you recall the accident?
A. I don’t recall. It was, like I said, the floor and the gondola was the same coloring as far as looking at it.
Woolco also assumes that the jury was compelled to believe that the photograph portrayed the same gondola located at the same place it was when plaintiff fell. The personnel supervisor for Woolco at the time of the accident testified about the photograph:
Q. You are not saying that this is the platform that Mrs. Coffee fell over, are you?
A. No, Sir.
Q. And you are not saying that this is the area of floor where Mrs. Coffee fell?
A. No, Sir.
The jury very well could have concluded that the photograph was a posed photo.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.