Court Opinion

ID: 9718012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:14:57.332558+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:56.798341
License: Public Domain

*884BURGESS, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in part and dissent in part. I believe there was a fatal conflict in the jury’s findings where, as here, it awarded damages for past medical expenses and wages, but did not award any damages for past pain and mental anguish. See Lee v. Huntsville Livestock Servs. Inc., 934 S.W.2d 158 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1996, no writ). Where the jury’s answers to questions are in conflict, the court is required to instruct the jury regarding the nature of the conflict, provide additional instructions as may be proper, and retire the jury for further deliberations. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 295. Here, the trial court followed the procedure contemplated by Rule 295 and did not, as the majority opines, fall into error. Therefore, I concur in the overruling of points of error one and two.
As to point three — appellants’ factual sufficiency point — I respectfully dissent in part. To decide whether the evidence is factually sufficient, we must weigh all of the evidence in the record. See Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Kunze, 996 S.W.2d 416, 422 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1999, pet. denied) (citing Ortiz v. Jones, 917 S.W.2d 770, 772 (Tex.1996)). “Findings may be overturned only if they are so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust.” Ortiz, 917 S.W.2d at 772. In addition, we remember the jury is the trier of fact, and, as such, is the sole judge of the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be attached to their testimony. See Maritime Overseas Corp. v. Ellis, 971 S.W.2d 402, 407 (Tex.1998). However, where the appellate court’s fact jurisdiction “is invoked by a factual sufficiency challenge and manifest injustice is clearly apparent,” the appellate court “should not hesitate to reverse and remand, even if some evidence of probative force supports the verdict.” Mitchell v. Southern Pac. Transp. Co., 955 S.W.2d 300, 304-05 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1997, no writ) (citing Tarrant County Water Control & Improvement Dist. v. Crossland, 781 S.W.2d 427, 436 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1989, writ denied), overruled in part, 870 S.W.2d 21 (Tex.1994)). “This is especially true where it is shown that a jury completely disregarded undisputed evidence and admissions in favor of general conclusory statements denying negligence.” Mitchell, 955 S.W.2d at 305 (citing Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Cropper, 767 S.W.2d 813, 817 (Tex.App.-Texarkana), writ denied, improvidently granted, 777 S.W.2d 709 (Tex.1989)). While “[i]t is the province of the jury to decide the issues which are raised by conflicting evidence, ... where there is evidence upon an issue and there is no evidence to the contrary, then the jury has not the right to disregard the undisputed evidence and decide such issue in accordance with their wishes.” Texas Dep’t of Transp. v. Guerra, 858 S.W.2d 44, 47 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1993, writ denied) (citing Texas & N.O.R. Co. v. Burden, 146 Tex. 109, 203 S.W.2d 522, 530 (1947)).
As to her injuries, Waltrip testified she remembered hearing a “loud sound like an explosion[.]” She started to turn and then realized there was something wrong. She could not get out of the car because she was having “real bad pains in the back of [her] neck all the way up into the side of [her] head.” She “started having real bad spasms and pains in [her] lower back.” The ambulance drivers removed her from the car and transported her to the hospital, where she was x-rayed and released. However, she continued to have problems. She could not raise her head and her throat swelled so she could not swallow liquids. She had to return to the emergency room to have her throat and neck checked. She then was prescribed some pain medication. She was unable to return to work for four to five days. When she did return, she was in constant pain. Her neck hurt all across the back of her head and she used various over-the-counter medications. The pain has continued since the accident and has even gotten worse as *885she awakens frequently during the night to take pain medication. She works for Al-bertson’s as a cashier, and after standing for a few hours, her neck bothers her. The pain at work has gotten worse since the accident. Waltrip also testified she had difficulty taking prescription pain medication. She has a “low tolerance,” as even a “Tylenol 2” causes her to be so sleepy that she cannot work. She cannot take time off from work because she supports herself and has bills to pay.
On cross examination, Waltrip admitted that after the emergency room visits she did not see a doctor for over two weeks, and then saw Dr. Martin Haig, to whom her attorneys referred her. She next visited Dr. Haig approximately ten months later. Her third visit occurred about five months after the second, and her fourth about a month later. She did not visit the doctor again for approximately a year and a half.
Dr. Haig diagnosed Waltrip with neck and back injuries, which he related to the accident, based on the history he received from Waltrip, his experience, and his review of her MRI. During Waltrip’s first visit to Dr. Haig, he examined her neck and found she had “some fullness, puffiness, at the base of the neck on each side, which probably was swelling from some type of a neck inflammation or swelling that had taken place in a recent accident. It was greater on the left.” Dr. Haig prescribed her medication and told Waltrip to “check back ... as necessary.” Approximately fifteen months after her first visit, Dr. Haig ordered a cervical MRI, based on Waltrip’s complaints and his examination of her neck, which revealed some stiffness. Dr. Haig determined Wal-trip’s bulging disk was not from “everyday wear and tear.” It was “not one of a disk space that’s worn out with the passage of time. The MRI was a ligament bulge which ... occurred from an accident of some type.” Dr. Haig further testified that “the important thing here is [Waltrip] had no complaints of neck and low back pain of a disabling nature until the auto accident.”
According to Dr. Haig, the MRI showed a mild to moderate generalized bulging in the C5-6 disc, and also showed evidence of arthritis in the C5-6 and C6-7 levels. Dr. Haig also confirmed Waltrip had degenerative changes and bony calcification in her lumbar spine, occurring before the accident. Dr. Haig confirmed further that the MRI (taken over fifteen months after the accident) showed no “acute” or recent abnormalities. He admitted that if Waltrip had come to him, complaining of neck pain and told him she had been a cashier for twenty years and was in her fifties, he would have attributed the bulging disc to everyday wear and tear. He agreed it was not uncommon for a person with degenerative disc disease to also have degenerative changes in other areas of the spine. Dr. Haig also acknowledged he had seen many patients referred to him by the appellants’ counsel.
Dr. Stephen Esses, Bilbon’s medical expert, examined Waltrip and found no objective evidence of injury. He considered Waltrip’s bulging disc shown on the MRI not to have been caused by the accident, but rather to be a normal, degenerative condition consistent -with her age. He further testified that, assuming the history given to him by Waltrip regarding an injury to her neck and back were true, she probably sustained a soft tissue injury or “strain.” Such muscle strains should be resolved within four to twelve weeks. He also noted that the type of work Waltrip did would increase stress on the back and neck. In cross examination, Dr. Esses testified: “I’ve indicated in my testimony that I believe this patient may well have had symptoms following the wreck on the basis of a soft tissue injury to the neck. I’ve indicated in deposition that it’s my opinion that those symptoms would have resolved within four to six weeks.” Dr. Esses was not provided any medical records showing that Waltrip had neck symp*886toms prior to the accident, but thought he would have received them if they existed.
Edward Cormier witnessed events occurring after the accident. He heard brakes squealing, and also saw Waltrip after the accident. He explained:
... I knew she was suffering with the neck. She had a neck pain, and they [ambulance attendants] had to come over there and try to get her out.... We knew that it was a ... pretty bad accident, because of what I had seen when she was in the ear an[d] she was holding her neck.
The evidence regarding whether Wal-trip’s bulging disc and associated pain were caused by the accident is certainly disputed. What is not disputed, however, is that Waltrip had some neck pain immediately after the accident as described by Cormier and she did not have neck complaints prior to the accident. Moreover, Cormier’s testimony supports the history Waltrip gave Dr. Esses regarding neck pain immediately following the accident. Dr. Esses testified that if the history given to him were true, she probably sustained a strain that should be resolved within four to twelve weeks. While the jury could have disregarded Waltrip’s subjective complaints, it still had to consider the proper amount of damages to award her for at least four weeks of pain associated with a strain inasmuch as Waltrip presented un-controverted evidence of an objective injury. The jury’s award to Culver of $100 highlights the problem. He had only subjective complaints, saw Dr. Haig only twice, and never asked for pain medication. Thus, in finding that Waltrip was entitled only to the sum of $100 for past pain and mental anguish, the jury appears to have disregarded undisputed evidence regarding her injuries. Consequently, its finding on Waltrip’s past pain and mental anguish is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. I would sustain point three as it relates to Waltrip, but overrule it as it relates to Culver.
In that vein, I would not consider that part of point four in which appellants claim the trial court erred in refusing to grant a new trial because of the post trial evidence of Waltrip’s related surgery; I would remand Waltrip’s claim for a new trial.