Estrada v. Dillon

• Decision Date: 12 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-0458,00-0458
• Citation: 44 S.W.3d 558
• Parties: (Tex. 2001) Manuel Estrada and Lear Lines, Inc., Petitioners v. Dennis Dillon and CNA Insurance Companies, Respondents
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 558

44 S.W.3d 558 (Tex. 2001)

Manuel Estrada and Lear Lines, Inc., Petitioners v. Dennis Dillon and CNA Insurance Companies, Respondents

No. 00-0458

SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS

April 12, 2001.

On Petition for Review from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas.

Per Curiam

In this personal-injury case, both sides appealed from a judgment awarding damages to the plaintiff and the plaintiff-intervenor and challenged the amounts the trial court awarded, or failed to award, for the various damage elements sought to be recovered. The defendants did not contest liability on appeal. The court of appeals reversed the trial court's judgment and remanded solely on the damages issue, holding that the jury's award of zero damages for past physical impairment was against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. 23 S.W.3d 422, 424. We conclude that although the court of appeals properly conducted the factual-sufficiency review that resulted in its reversal of the damages award, it erred in remanding only that issue. Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.1(b) requires that both the liability and damages issues be remanded when the defendants have contested liability in the trial court, as they did in this case. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part the court of appeals' judgment and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings.

Dennis Dillon was driving to meet a customer when he collided with a Lear Lines, Inc., tractor-trailer rig driven by Manuel Estrada. The accident occurred as Estrada was pulling off to the side of the road following a collision with another vehicle. Dillon suffered injuries to his knees, broken ribs, cracks in his pelvis, shattered and cracked teeth, and bruises on his sternum and arm. He was hospitalized for twenty-three days, underwent numerous surgeries on his knees, and needed physical therapy. Dillon sued Estrada and Lear Lines; CNA, the workers' compensation insurance carrier for Dillon's employer, intervened to recover the $129,905.07 in medical and indemnity payments it made to Dillon, and any additional expenditures before judgment, prejudgment interest, and attorney's fees. A jury found that Estrada and Dillon were each fifty-percent negligent and awarded Dillon $1,000 for past physical pain and mental anguish, $1,500 for past loss of earnings, and $47,000 for past medical-care expenses. The jury did not award damages for Dillon's future physical pain and mental anguish, future medical care, future loss of earning capacity, past or future physical impairment, or past or future disfigurement. Dillon and CNA moved the trial court to disregard the jury's answers to the questions on past and future medical-care expenses and past loss of earnings and to substitute the amounts of $149,295.03 for past medical-care expenses, $81,000 for future medical-care expenses, and $22,000 for past loss of earnings. The evidence for past medical-care expenses of $149,295.03 was uncontroverted. Accordingly, the trial court found that past medical-care expenses totaled that amount, instead of $47,000 as the jury found, and granted the motion in part. However, the trial court denied Dillon and CNA's request for similar findings on future medical care and past loss of earnings. Relying on the jury's verdict and its ruling on Dillon and CNA's motion to disregard, the trial court rendered judgment awarding Dillon and CNA $75,897.52 in damages, prejudgment interest, post-judgment interest, and fifty-percent of court costs.

Estrada and Lear Lines appealed, contending that the trial court erred in granting the motion to disregard the jury findings for past medical expenses and in rendering its own award of damages on that element. Dillon and CNA also appealed, contesting the jury's failure to award damages for past and future physical impairment and future medical-care expenses. The court of appeals reversed the trial court's judgment and remanded solely on the damages issue, holding that the jury's award of zero damages for past physical impairment was against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. 23 S.W.3d 422, 424. Estrada and Lear Lines petitioned this Court for review, contending that the court of appeals: (1) improperly evaluated the factual sufficiency of the evidence on physical impairment and (2) erred in remanding the damages issue without also remanding the liability issue.

We first consider Estrada and Lear Lines' argument that the court of appeals improperly evaluated the factual sufficiency of the evidence on physical impairment. See Jaffe Aircraft Corp. v. Carr, 867 S.W.2d 27, 28 (Tex. 1993). The court of appeals explained that to sustain a finding that Dillon incurred no damages for past physical impairment, the jury must have found by a preponderance of the evidence that no impairment accompanied the injury and the necessary medical care. 22 S.W.3d at 427. In support of its explanation, the court of appeals cited cases holding that when uncontroverted evidence shows objective injuries, a jury finding that the plaintiff suffered no past pain and suffering may be against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. Id. (citing Monroe v. Grider, 884 S.W.2d 811, 820 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1994, writ denied) ...