Court Opinion

ID: 9646825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:12:32.549789+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:42.416830
License: Public Domain

CORNELIUS, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment only because appellant failed to clearly bring to the trial court’s attention an objection to the court’s action in sending the jury back for further deliberations based upon the supposed conflict in their answers. I would not sanction the trial court’s action in refusing to accept a legal and valid verdict if proper objection had been made to that refusal. It is the trial court’s duty to correctly determine if a verdict contains a real or only an apparent conflict and to act accordingly. If the conflict is only apparent and not real, the verdict should be accepted and judgment rendered upon it. Otherwise, the party favored by the unaccepted verdict is entitled to a new trial if the error is preserved by proper objection. Texas Employers’ Ins. Assn. v. King, 346 S.W.2d 380 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1961, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Smith v. Weindorff, 287 S.W.2d 740 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1956, no writ); 3 McDonald’s, Texas Civil Practice § 15.03.2, p. 601. If there is a conflict in the verdict but it is not fatal, it is the court’s duty to accept the verdict, resolve the conflict and render judgment. Traywick v. Goodrich, 364 S.W.2d 190 (Tex.1963); Casualty Underwriters v. Rhone, 134 Tex. 50,132 S.W.2d 97 (1939); 3 McDonald’s, Texas Civil Practice § 15.06.2, p. 607. If the conflict is irreconcilable, the court should advise the jury of the conflict and instruct them to deliberate further. Tex.R.Civ.P. 295. I would not agree that the trial court has the discretion to refuse to accept a valid verdict which he mistakenly believes is conflicting. See Smith v. Weindorff, supra, involving almost the exact situation involved here. McCarty v. Morrison, 468 S.W.2d 350 (Tex.1971), and Robertson Tank Lines, Inc. v. Sawyer, 416 S.W.2d 886 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1967, no writ), do not stand for such a proposition, but only hold that there can be but one final verdict. Those cases did not address the right of a litigant to a new trial when the judge has improperly refused to accept a valid verdict. Robertson Tank Lines, Inc. v. Sawyer, supra at 889.