Court Opinion

ID: 9827915
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 17:55:44.628035+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:39.065828
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
In the original opinion we did not discuss the assignments complaining of alleged misconduct of the court in giving additional instruction to the jury after it retired and the assignment that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, in failing to look to his left as he approached the intersection of Langham and Neches streets. Both contentions seemed to us so clearly without merit that we deemed discussion of them unnecessary. But in deference to appellant’s insistence that we discuss them on rehearing, we will do so briefly.
The' facts with reference to the alleged misconduct of the court, as revealed by a bill of exceptions, were: After the jury retired to deliberate on a verdict the foreman addressed a question to the court in writing with regard to special issue No. 1, which issue inquired as to the' speed of the taxi. The question was as follows:
“Hon. Geo. C. O’Brien, 58th District Court, City. In answering Sp. Is. No. 1, will it be permissible to use the.term ‘approximate’ in designating miles per hour?
“[Signed] A. L. Davis,
“Foreman of the jury.”
To which the court replied in writing on the same slip of paper:
“Yes. Save this paper and return with the charge when through.
“[Signed] Geo. C. O’Brien, J.”
When notified that the jury desired to communicate with him, Judge O’Brien was engaged in the trial of another case in his courtroom. The jurors were deliberating in a small room the door to which opened into the courtroom. Judge O’Brien went to the door of the room and received the communication from the foreman in the presence of *915the other jurors. He returned the paper to the foreman with his answer written thereon, as above indicated. It is shown that immediately after the close of arguments counsel for appellant absented himself from the courtroom without communicating with the trial judge and, because of the distance from the courthouse to counsel’s office, it would have unduly delayed proceedings to have arranged for the presence of appellant’s counsel during the communication of the court with the jury.
The statutes relating to communications between the court and jury and the giving of additional instructions by the court are as follows:
Article 2197: “The jury may communicate with the court by making their wish known to the officer in charge, who shall inform the court, and they may then in open court, and through their foreman, communicate with the court, either verbally or in writing.”
Article 2198: “After having retired, the jury may ask further instructions of the court touching any matter of law. For this purpose they shall appear before the judge in open court in a body and through their foreman state to the court, either verbally or in writing, the particular question of law upon which they desire further instruction; and the court shall give such instruction in writing, but no instruction shall be given except in conformity with the preceding rules and only upon the particular question on which it is asked.”
It was the statutory right of the jury to request any additional instruction, and it was the duty of the court to give it. The instruction as given was clearly correct, and the giving of it could not have prejudiced the appellant’s rights. The mere fact that the jury did not file into the main courtroom and appear there before the judge was immaterial under the facts shown. We think the communication was in substantial compliance with the statute. The spirit, not the letter, of the law should be the quest of the courts. 59 C.J. 964; Forshey v. Galveston Railroad Co., 16 Tex. 516, 517; Compton v. Jennings Lumber Co. (Tex.Civ.App.) 295 S.W. 308; Wichita Falls Compress Co. v. W. L. Moody & Co. (Tex.Civ.App.) 154 S.W. 1032. •
The contention that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law in failing to look to his left for an approaching car as he approached the intersection is without merit. The corner was obstructed by a building, and if the taxi came off La,ngham in the manner and at the speed testified by the plaintiff, he probably could not have avoided the collision, no matter how closely he might have observed to his left as he approached the intersection. Moreover, under the facts shown the jury were warranted in concluding that failure to look to his left was not negligence under the circumstances. Without discussing the evidence, we will simply say that we have no doubt whatever that the issues relating to the contribuory negligence of the plaintiff were issues of fact, and that the findings of the jury deciding them against the appellant have ample support.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.