Court Opinion

ID: 9829520
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 19:23:23.995206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:02.536682
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing;.
In overruling appellants’ motion for rehearing, we think it proper to point out distinctions between our holding and those in two lines of cases cited in the motion. One line relates to misconduct of the jurors themselves. There is a manifest distinction between misconduct on the part of those charged with the duty of decision and misconduct of counsel. The other line, illustrated by Parker v. Miller (Tex. Com. App.) 268 S. W. 728, relates to the injection of improper evidence in the case directly affecting the testimony of a material witness.
In the instant case the jury were required to answer specific questions of fact in accordance with their findings on the evidence. The general presumption is that their answers were based upon honest' deductions from the evidence. The improper matter injected into the case had no relation to the questions propounded to the jury, and the probability of its deleterious effect can only be arrived at by weighing the considerations, pro and con, in the light of the record.
Prom the opinions in Burrell v. Grisier and Golden v. Odiorne, it is clear that the effect of rule 62a was to shift the burden of showing at least the probability of prejudice to the appellant. Since our rules of practice are in large measure statutory, rule 62a, in its practical effect, may be confined to narrow limits; but that it has, within such limits, superseded the former rule that error is presumed to be prejudicial, unless demonstrated not to be so, is the holding in these cases. We believe the case at bar falls within the rule therein announced, and that, in the light of the record before us, we have applied the correct formula in affirming the trial court’s judgment.
Motion overruled.