Court Opinion

ID: 9681672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:54:30.263927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:35.312008
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
On Motion for Rehearing appellee correctly contends that this Court erred in not considering its cross-points because appellee did not file a motion for new trial or complain of the jury findings or judgment in the trial court.
Rule 324, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, requires such complaint only when a party objects to the judgment. Since the judgment was favorable to appellee, it had no reason to object. See O’Connor, Appealing Jury Findings, 12 Hous.L.Rev. 65, 83-84 (1974).
Appellee’s first cross-point is that there was either no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding of negligence against it. We overrule this point and hold that there was sufficient evidence that appellee’s service man left the valve beneath the low water fuel cut-off closed. There is no evidence that anyone other than appellee’s service man was in the boiler room during the time interval in question. The evidence is uncontradicted that he manipulated the value in question several times on that occasion, and the jury could well have resolved the fact issue of whether he left the valve open or closed against the appellee. In the alternative, the jury could have found appellee negligent in failing to maintain the boiler alarm system as was required by its service contract with Brownstone Park. Appellee’s employee testified that had an adequate alarm been installed and left in operation, a service crew from Southern Union could have responded in time to prevent the destruction of the boiler by overheating.
*274Appellee’s second cross-point complains that the jury finding exonerating Hartford Insurance Company was contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. We also overrule this point as we are at a loss to understand what duty Hartford owed to Southern Union Gas Company, or even to Brownstone Park. Its voluntary inspection of the boiler was for the purpose of determining its insurability and, as such, was for the benefit of Hartford only. Although the Hartford inspector was commissioned by the State and filed a report to the State Boiler Commission, he had no authority as an agent of Hartford to compel Brownstone to comply with any particular standard. Any authority he had was as an agent for the State and any duty he owed was to the State, not to Southern Union Gas.
Finally, appellee contends that the take nothing judgment against Brownstone should be affirmed because Brownstone was guilty of negligence per se in owning a boiler not in compliance with the requirements of the State Boiler Code.
The rule of negligence per se is found in Southern Pacific Co. v. Castro, 493 S.W.2d 491 (Tex.1973), which approves of the definition set out in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 288(B) (1965). The unexcused violation of a legislative enactment or an administrative regulation which is adopted by the court as defining the standard of conduct of a reasonable man is negligence in itself. Thus for one to prove negligence per se, he must prove (1) a violation of the penal standard, and (2) a violation which is unexcused.
However, it is also clear that whether the violation of a criminal statute may also be the basis of civil liability in a given case in the absence of an express provision therefor, depends upon whether the plaintiff is within the class for whose protection the statute was passed, and the injury is of the nature the statute was intended to prevent. Mundy v. Pirie-Slaughter Motor Co., 146 Tex. 314, 206 S.W.2d 587 (1947); Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Baker, 215 S.W. 556 (Tex.Comm’n App. 1919, jdgmt. adopted), 40 Tex.Jur.2d Negligence § 11-15 (1962), Restatement (Second) of Torts § 286 (1965).
The purpose of the Texas Boiler Law Rules and Regulations is a matter of statutory interpretation. We must consider the harm the statute was intended to prevent and the interests it sought to protect. We regard as the purpose of the Code the protection of the lives and property of the inhabitants of the building containing a boiler, or of those persons lawfully within the building. We doubt that the legislature or the Boiler Commissioner promulgated the regulation cited by appellee for the purpose of absolving from liability those who contract to service boilers, and who, through their own negligence, damage them. Consequently, we cannot hold that, as a matter of law, the trial court erred in not holding appellant Brownstone Park negligent per se.
We grant that part of the motion which concerns the consideration of appellee’s cross-points. In all other things, the motion for rehearing is overruled.