Court Opinion

ID: 9828728
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 18:39:21.02463+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:52.234546
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
Counsel for defendants, in a very vigorous and able motion for rehearing, insist that our disposition of this case in our original opinion was wrong and that such motion should be granted, and the judgment of the trial court should be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.
In their motion for rehearing our attention is called to an error in our original opinion wherein we stated that on the first ballot five of the jurors were for $20,000, five for 17,500, and one for 15,000. This portion of the original opinion is withdrawn. We should have stated that on the first ballot five of the jurors were for $20,-000, one for $17,500, and five for $15,000.
The discussion by the members of the jury with reference to attorney’s fees and insurance was had before they had answered Special Issue No. 14, and after such discussions had occurred, they awarded the sum of $16,000 damages in answer to such issue. The question for our determination is: Does the record show that the misconduct of the jury as found by the trial court caused the jurors to increase their verdict from $15,000 to $16,000? Stating it another way, did the misconduct cause the jury to render a verdict for $1,000 more than it would have rendered if such misconduct had not occurred?
There was no material misconduct prior to the first ballot. The court submitted to the jury twenty-eight special issues. There is no showing that the jury had any unusual amount of difficult}’' in answering the issues. The jury began its deliberation on Wednesday morning and reached, a verdict by the middle of the afternoon on the same day. There is no showing as to the number of ballots taken by the jury in attempting to answer Special Issue No. 14. There is no showing that any member of the jury was of the opinion that the amount of damages awarded was excessive or that it was more than plaintiff was entitled to under the facts. One of the jurors who voted for $15,000 stated that he would not have plaintiff’s injury for $50,000. The discussions with reference to attorney’s fees did not reach the stage of an argument and did not involve all of the members of the jury. The trial court found, such finding being amply supported by the evidence, that each of the five jurors who voted for $15,000 on the first ballot said to his fellow jurors during the jury deliberation that he thought the plaintiff had been damaged more than $15,-000, but that he did not want to award damages of more than $15,000 for various reasons stated by the jurors. Among such reasons given were (a) because the plaintiff, being a soldier, would probably receive a pension from the government on account of the injury; (b) because he had incurred'no hospital and doctor bills; (c) because the jurors did not want to bankrupt the defendants or put them out of business; (d) because the defendants would be less likely to appeal the cause if the amount awarded was not too great. It seems to us that it is more likely that the low men on the jury by thair arguments more probably induced the high men to come down than the high men induced the low men to increase their verdict. We cannot hold, looking at and analyzing the record as a whole, that the low men on the jury were caused to increase their verdict from $15,000 to $16,000 by reason of the misconduct of the jury. *209Further, there is no showing in the record and vve cannot find that such misconduct caused the jury to render a verdict for more than it would have rendered if such misconduct had not occurred.
On the question of misconduct with reference to discussions of attorney’s fees, the defendants cite the following cases in support of their contention: Gillette Motor Transport Co. v. Whitfield, Tex.Civ.App., 160 S.W.2d 290; City of Waco v. Darnell, Tex.Com.App., 35 S.W.2d 134; Sproles Motor Freight Lines v. Long, 140 Tex. 494, 168 S.W.2d 642; St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. of Teaxs v. Lewis, Tex.Com.App., 10 S.W.2d 534; Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Gillette, 125 Tex. 563, 83 S.W.2d 307; Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Van Zandt, Tex.Com.App., 44 S.W.2d 950. These cases were all tried before the adoption of Rule 327, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. As was pointed out in our original opinion, under the law as it existed before the adoption of such rule, where misconduct of the jury in reaching a verdict was shown, a reversal would follow unless the record disclosed beyond a reasonable doubt that such misconduct did not influence the jury in rendering its verdict. Under the law as it now exists, where misconduct is shown, the burden is upon the complaining party to show that probable injury resulted to him by reason thereof. We agree with the holdings of the cases cited by the defendants. We are, however, of the opinion that they have no application to the instant case. If we were called upon to decide this case under the law as it existed prior to the enactment of Rule 327, it would be our duty to hold that reversible error is shown by reason of the jury misconduct. But under the law as it now exists, we are of the opinion that the defendants failed to discharge the burden of showing that the jury misconduct resulted in probable injury to them.
Defendants also cite Union Bus Lines v. Moulder, Tex.Civ.App., 180 S.W.2d 509. In that case the trial court found that the misconduct of the jury occurred and that same injured the complaining party, but refused to grant a new trial by reason thereof in view of the fact that the plaintiff remitted the amount of the verdict in excess of the amount contended for by the lowest juror. The Court of Civil Appeals at San Antonio held that this was improper and that the remittitur did not cure such misconduct and reversed and remanded the judgment of the lower court. We have a different situation in the case under consideration. In the instant case no question of remittitur is involved. It is our opinion that the case cited is not in point upon the questions involved in the case at hand.
The trial court, at the request of defendants, made the following additional findings of fact: “For the purpose of clarifying this finding, the court finds that one juror stated that he kept thinking about the statement made by Mr. Curtis about the M. P.. and that he could not help thinking it was an M. P., or the defendant might have thought it was an M. P. and that he wanted to get even with him, or something to that effect. Immediately upon that statement being made, the foreman and other jurors said that said matter had been ruled out by the judge and that it should not be considered for any purpose. Thereafter there was no further mention of this matter. That was about the same time the question of the M. P. was brought up, some juror made the remark that ‘sometimes taxicabs carried something besides passengers’ and he was told that was not to be brought up nor discussed, and it was not mentioned thereafter.”
We have again reviewed the record and the authorities cited with reference to the misconduct of the jury in discussing the excluded evidence and the question asked the witness Roscoe Petty by counsel concerning trouble with the M. P., and have done this in connection with the additional findings of fact as filed by the trial court.. It is our opinion that probable injury is not shown by reason of such misconduct. We are of the opinion that no reversible error is shown under the fifth point as raised by the defendants, in which they complain of the action of counsel for the, plaintiff in propounding the question to the witness Roscoe Petty, in which counsel asked him concerning having trouble with the M. P. at Camp Bowie. We have again reviewed the entire record and have given *210careful consideration to defendants’ motion for a rehearing, and we are of the opinion that our disposition of the case in our original opinion was correct.
Motion for rehearing overruled.