Court Opinion

ID: 9829289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 19:09:55.703131+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:59.527783
License: Public Domain

On the Merits.
G. B. Higginson and A. C. Patton were the. owners, of a two-story building in Waco. They rented the upper story to Fred Goldman, wild used the same as a residence, and the lówér story to Miss Engel, who used the same as a millinery store. Appellee brought suit against all of the parties named, alleging that through their negligence water was permitted to run from the upper story through the ceiling and upon her stock of goods. The evidence showed that the owners of the building were not at fault, in that the plumbing was correctly done, and was not out of order. The court instructed a verdict for the owners of the building, from which no appeal has been taken, and submitted the issue of negligence and damage to the jury upon special issues. The jury found in favor of the appellee against the appellant for actual damages to her stock of millinery, and for loss of profits occasioned by such injury.
 Appellant’s first and second propositions are that the court erred in submitting the issue as to whether water was permitted to escape, for the reason that appellee pleaded special acts of negligence, and could not recover for negligence generally. There is no merit in this assignment. Appellee pleaded both general and special negligence. Appellant’s third proposition is to the effect that the evidence as to loss of profits was not “sufficient to enable the jury, with a reasonable degree of certainty and exactness, to ascertain the loss,” for which reason it was error to submit this issue to the jury. We overrule this contention. The evidence upon this issue was to the effect that the damage occurred at the beginning of the millinery season; that by reason of the goods becoming wet, the millinery could not be put in first class condition, and could not be sold at the profit which appellee would otherwise have made. The evidence indicated the amount of such profits with sufficient certainty to enable the jury to determine this issue.
The fourth proposition is to the effect that the court erred in submitting issue No. 2, for the reason that there was no evidence upon which the jury could base an answer to the same. Special issue No. 2 was as follows:
“Was the water that caused the damage, if any, to the plaintiff’s goods permitted to escape from the defendant Goldman’s residence on to the plaintiff’s premises by reason of any negligence on the part of defendant Goldman?”
The only objection made by appellant to submitting this issue was that the same was upon the weight of the evidence. Appellant by failing to seasonably object to the submission of this issue thereby waived whatever error there may have been in submitting the same. However there was no error in submitting this issue, for the further reason that the evidence demanded the submission of the same.
Appellant submits no propositions under his assignments of error, except those above referred to. The case appears to have been properly submitted to the jury upon special issues, raised by the pleadings and the evidence, and the findings of the jury are supported by the evidence, for which reasons the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Affirmed.