Court Opinion

ID: 9833560
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 22:49:58.03353+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:04.323359
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellant and appellees have filed motions for rehearing in this cause. . These motions present a point of procedure which perhaps calls for further discussion. Our judgment of February 4, 1942, directs that this cause be remanded for new trial. Since this order was entered after September 1, 1941, Rule No. 324 of the Texas Rules of Procedure is applicable thereto in view of the fact that appellees’ brief contains a point attacking the verdict of the jüry as “being so clearly against the preponderance of the evidence as to show whim, caprice, passion and prejudice.” We are of the opinion that appellees’ criticism of the verdict is well taken, Wichita Valley Ry. Co. v. Williams, 116 Tex. 253, 288 S.W. 425, 430, but, as pointed out in our original opinion, this fact did not authorize the trial court to substitute its findings for those of the jury. Nor does this Court have authority to substitute a finding for that made by the jury. 3 Tex.Jur. 1088, § 764. The result is that the cause must be remanded for new trial.
Our holding that Rule 324 is applicable to this cause in no way conflicts with the holdings of the Supreme Court in McAfee v. Travis Gas Corp., 153 S.W.2d 442, 443, or LeMaster v. Fort Worth Transit Co., 160 S.W.2d 224. As pointed out in the latter case, Rule 324 provides for an important departure i'n the practice relating to appeals from judgments non obstante vere-dicto. Under the rule it is necessary that the appellee attack the verdict by points contained in his brief, or take the risk of having judgment rendered against him, should an appellate court decide that a judgment non obstante veredicto was improperly entered. The practice before the rule became effective, was to reverse the judgment with directions to the trial court to enter judgment upon the verdict, preserving to the losing party on appeal the right to file a motion for new trial and to proceed from that point as if no appeal had been taken.
Rule 324, obviously, places an additional burden upon the appellee, as he must raise all points which would vitiate a judgment based on the verdict in connection with the appeal from a judgment entered notwithstanding the verdict, as he will have no opportunity to set them up in a motion for new trial.
Although Rule 324 relates to appellate procedure and affects the nature of the judgment to be entered by an appellate court, the rule will not generally be applied to cases tried prior to September 1, 1941, because of the obvious prejudice to the appel-lee. LeMaster v. Fort Worth Transit Co., supra.
In this particular case, however, appellees’ brief does contain a point, the sustaining of which would destroy a judgment based upon the verdict of the jury. In such a case, we believe it proper to apply the rule and remand for new trial, rather than to remand with instructions to the trial court to enter , judgment and then hear a motion for new trial. Should the trial court overrule such motion, this Court upon appeal- would have to reverse the case upon the same record and the identical point now before us.
Rule 324 is obviously designed to aid in the speedy dispatch of litigation by providing that' matters attacking both the verdict and the judgment non obstante vere-dicto shall be disposed of in one appeal. Whenever the rule by its terms may be applied to accomplish its purpose without prejudice to either party it should be given effect.
Both motions for rehearing are overruled.