Court Opinion

ID: 9653912
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:58:45.212222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:09.056787
License: Public Domain

*819OSBORN; Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the opinion by Chief Justice Preslar and feel compelled to do more than remand for a new trial with no guidance to the trial Court concerning the first issue which was submitted to the jury, and to which counsel for Appellant made numerous objections.
In Olson v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, 477 S.W.2d 859 (Tex.1972), Justice Greenhill noted that the Workmen’s Compensation Act was not intended to provide health insurance, but was designed to provide compensation for incapacity flowing from an accidental personal injury. That position was restated by the Chief Justice in a dissenting opinion in Henderson v. Travelers Insurance Company, 544 S.W.2d 649 (Tex.1976). In the period between those two opinions, the Court decided Western Casualty and Surety Company v. Gonzales, supra. In that case, Justice Reav-ley writing for the Court said:
“ * * * If the injury to the particular member extends to and affects portions of the body beyond the member, or if his general health is impaired, the workman may recover for his general disability pursuant to other sections of the workmen’s compensation statute. Great American Indemnity Co. v. Sams, 142 Tex. 121, 176 S.W.2d 312 (1944); General Accident Fire & Life Assur. Corp. v. Murphy, 339 S.W.2d 392 (Tex.Civ.App.1960, writ ref’d n. r. e.). * * *” (Emphasis added)
Neither of the cited cases either supports the emphasized language or makes any mention of a recovery for workmen’s compensation benefits as a result of the impairment of a workman’s general health. In the Murphy case, the Court said:
“It is true of course, as held in the cases of Great American Indemnity Co. v. Sams, 142 Tex. 121, 176 S.W.2d 312, and Denbow v. Standard Accident Ins. Co., 143 Tex. 455, 186 S.W.2d 236, both by the Supreme Court, that to recover for a general injury the effects of the injury to a specific member must extend into and affect the body generally so as to cause disability.”
Only four months after the Gonzales case was decided, the Supreme Court in the opinion by Justice Denton in Texas Employers Insurance Association v. Wilson, supra, said:
“ * * * An injured employee, however, is not precluded from the recovering for total incapacity if he alleges and proves that the injury to the particular member also extended to and affected other portions of his body or has impaired his general health to such an extent as to totally and permanently incapacitate him. Western Casualty and Surety Co. v. Gonzales, 518 S.W.2d 524 (Tex.1975); Travelers Insurance Co. v. Marmolejo, 383 S.W.2d 380 (Tex.1964); Argonaut Insurance Co. v. Newman, supra. * * *” (Emphasis added)
Both the Gonzales case and the Newman case contain statements which support the language used by Justice Denton. Also see: Pennsylvania Threshermen and Farmers’ Mutual Casualty Insurance Company v. Tatom, 342 S.W.2d 25 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1960, writ ref’d n. r. e.); and Coleman v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, 297 S.W.2d 236 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1956, writ ref’d).
But in Travelers Insurance Company v. Marmolejo, supra, the Court noted that for a claimant to recover for general disability as the result of an injury to a specific member, he must establish that the injury extended to and affected a part of the body other than the specific member. The Court said the fact that the injury to a specific member has affected the body generally is not enough.
In reaching that result, the Court followed its earlier opinion by Justice Norvell in Texas Employers’ Insurance Association v. Espinosa, 367 S.W.2d 667 (Tex.1963), which held that headaches, pain and dizziness following an eye injury did not establish of themselves an extension of a specific injury to the eye to the body generally. A similar holding appears in Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass'n v. Bronwlee, supra. There the Court said:
*820“ * * * ‘Where injury results to a particular member of the body, compensation for the loss of which is specifically provided by statute, the liability of the insurer is limited to that amount, even though the loss of or injury to that particular member actually results in total permanent incapacity of the employee to labor. But an employee is not precluded from recovering for total incapacity if he alleges and proves that the injury to the particular member also extended to and affected other portions of his body * * *
Those cases formed the basis for the Court’s decision in Texas Employers’ Insurance Association v. Shannon, 462 S.W.2d 559 (Tex.1970), where the Court said:
“The fact that pain alone (as distinguished from an extension of the injury) extends from an injury to a specific member of the body into the body does not make the injury a general one and will not support a finding of general incapacity. Texas Employers’ Ins. Assn. v. Brownlee, 152 Tex. 247, 256 S.W.2d 76 (1953); Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Espinosa, 367 S.W.2d 667 (Tex.1963).”
Obviously, the headaches, pain and dizziness which the Court wrote about in Espi-nosa and the back pain which the Court noted in Shannon impaired each of those workmen’s general health. Yet that was not enough to permit recovery for a general injury in either case. And if, as the Court said in Marmolejo, the injury must extend to the body generally, a finding that it impairs the general health does not meet that requirement.
Many cases can be found which indicate that the proper issue for the jury’s determination is whether the injury to the specific member extends to and affects the body generally or some part thereof other than the specific member.1 That has certainly been the direction taken by the writers of Texas Pattern Jury Charges, Vol. 2 (1970), in PJC 26.15 to 26.24. We have found only one case where an issue inquired about the injury affecting the workman’s general health. Superior Ins. Co. v. Owens, 218 S.W.2d 517 (Tex.Civ.App. — Beaumont 1949, writ ref’d n. r. e.). But in that case, such issue was immaterial because the jury found that the injuries sustained by the workman extended to and affected his left shoulder, thus resulting in a general injury, regardless of any effect on his general health. We have found no case where there was an issue which inquired if the specific injury “impaired” the worker’s general health, and that was not the issue submitted in this case.
As noted in the opinion by Chief Justice Preslar, there is evidence in this case from which the jury could conclude that the claimant is totally disabled. And if the appropriate issue is an inquiry as to whether his injury extends to and affects his general health, then there is evidence to support the jury’s verdict, and the insufficient evidence point should not be sustained.
Unfortunately, we can give no definitive answer to the trial Court who must retry this case. The language in Gonzales and Wilson support the submission of an issue on impairment of general health. The reasoning in Brownlee, Espinosa, Marmolejo and Shannon seems to suggest otherwise. Certainly, this Court does not have the final say on what the proper issue should be, and we cannot resolve the question of the prop*821er issue for these parties, each of whom finds support for their position in recently decided compensation cases. Unless a writ be granted in this case, the trial Judge is left with the next guess, and a recommendation of the Texas Pattern Jury Charges.

. Great American Indemnity Co. v. Sams, 142 Tex. 121, 176 S.W.2d 312 (1943), (affected the body generally); Argonaut Underwriters Insurance Company v. Byerly, 329 S.W.2d 937 (Tex.Civ.App. — Beaumont 1959, writ ref’d n. r. e.), (affected parts of the body other than the arm); General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corp. v. Murphy, 339 S.W.2d 392 (Tex.Civ.App. —Houston 1960, writ ref’d n. r. e.), (affected the body generally); Petty v. Texas Employers’ Insurance Association, 401 S.W.2d 678 (Tex. Civ.App. — Fort Worth 1966, writ ref’d n. r. e.), (affected the shoulder); Texas Employers’ Insurance Association v. Shannon, 453 S.W.2d 217 (Tex.Civ.App. — Amarillo), rev’d, 462 S.W.2d 559 (Tex.1970), (affected parts of the body other than the leg); Western Casualty and Surety Company v. Gonzales, supra, (affected parts of the body other than the hand); and Texas Employers Insurance Association v. Wilson, supra, (affected the body generally).