Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company v. Hale, A-10840
| Decision Date | 09 February 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. A-10840,A-10840 |
| Citation | 400 S.W.2d 310 |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
| Parties | HARTFORD ACCIDENT AND INDEMNITY COMPANY, Petitioners, v. Alvis HALE, Respondent. |
Frank R. Nye, Jr., Rio Grande City, Atlas, Freeland, Schwarz & Gurwitz, McAllen, for petitioners.
Arnulfo Guerra, Roma, Emilio Guitierrez, Rio Grande City, Wellborn & Houston, Henderson, for respondent.
Suit was brought by Mrs. Alvis Hale against Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company to recover benefits under the Texas Workmen's Compensation Law for the death of her husband, Otis O. Hale, She alleged that her husband's death resulted from injuries he sustained in the course of his employment with Sun Oil Company while working on some pumping equipment. The case was tried to a jury. Based upon the jury's verdict, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of Mrs. Hale for the sum of $11,634.87. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the case for a new trial. 389 S.W.2d 720. Both parties applied for writ of error. Hartford's application was granted on points of error asserting that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in not rendering judgment that the plaintiff take nothing. Mrs. Hale's application was granted because of the granting of Hartford's application. We reverse the judgments of the Court of Civil Appeals and trial court and render judgment that the plaintiff take nothing.
In answer to special issues the jury found that Hale sustained an accidental injury in the course of his employment and that the injury was a producing cause of his death. By proper points of error Hartford asserted in the Court of Civil Appeals, and asserts here, that the findings that Hale's injury was accidental and was sustained in the course of his employment have no support in evidence of probative value. The Court of Civil Appeals impliedly overruled the points. We sustain the point that there is in the record no evidence of probative value to support the finding that Hale's injury was sustained in the course of his employment.
(1, 2) As proof that Hale's injury was accidental and was sustained in the course of his employment, the plaintiff was permitted by the trial court to introduce testimony of L. E. Nix as to what he was told by Hale concerning where and how he was injured. The contention of Hartford is that this testimony was not admissible even if the statements by Hale meet the time requirement of the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule, because there is no independent proof of the incident or occurrence to which the statements relate. That there must be such proof to constitute statements made by an injured person a part of the res gestae is settled by our recent decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Michling, Tex.Sup., 364 S.W.2d 172 (1963). The rationale of the decision is that to be admissible as res gestae the statements must be shown to have been a spontaneous reaction to an exciting event, and the statements themselves cannot be used to prove the exciting event. In addition to the cases cited in Michling as authority for our holding, see cases cited in an annotation in 163 A.L.R. 15, at page 219, et seq. Evidence which establishes only that the event could have occurred does not satisfy the requirement; it must be sufficient to support a finding that it did occur. A fair summary of the competent evidence having any bearing on Hale's injury follows.
Hale was a maintenance man for Sun Oil Company. His working hours were from 7:00 a. m. to 3:30 p. m. His immediate superior was L. E. Nix, a production foreman for Sun with certain of its leases under his supervision. Upon request, Nix would send Hale to leases where he was informed maintenance services were needed; but, by custom Hale would often make an independent check of pumping equipment and machinery at the various leases to see if repairs were needed.
Hale left home for work in a pickup furnished him by Sun at about 6:45 a. m. on January 31, 1963. Some time between 10:00 a. m. and 11:00 a. m. he arrived at the company's office dressed in his work clothes and went to Nix's office. He said he had been injured and he appeared to Nix to be in pain. Nix took him to another room and had him remove his pants to see how badly he was injured. When the examination revealed injuries to Hale's groin, buttocks and lower ribs, Nix called in Robert G. Denyer, Sun's area Superintendent, who also made an examination. The two concluded that Hale should see a doctor, and Nix took him to a doctor who hospitalized him at 12:05 p. m. Examination by the doctor disclosed a 'pressing' or 'crushing' type of injury from the lower rib cage to the crest of the pelvis on the left side, with moderately severe bruises, a bruised elbow, a scratched and bruised area on his left leg, and a broken rib. Hale remained in the hospital until February 6th when he was discharged and sent home. He re-entred the hospital on February 15th and died the next day from a heart attack.
The statements by Hale concerning his injury which Nix was permitted to testify to were made a few minutes after entering Nix's office and were that he had been injured; that he was injured at well No. 6 on the F. G. Perez lease; that the clutch was thrown on the pumping unit and he set the brake and then pulled the plug and found water in the crankcase; that to keep oil and water from getting on his clothes, he put the plug back in and stepped back in the line of the counterbalancing weights and they came down and mashed him against the A-frame.
A photograph of the pumping unit is in the record. The testimonial description of it is rather meager. Early in the afternoon of January 31, Nix and Denyer visited Perez Well No. 6 to see if they could discover how Hale had been injured. Nix testified that the pumping unit was not running, the brake was not set, and that as best he remembered the counterbalances were all the way down. He found no traces of clothing, blood or skin. Denyer testified that the pumping unit was running. Both testified to seeing unidentifiable shoe prints at the unit. Denyer testified that the shoe prints were out of line with where Hale said he was when he was injured. Nix testified the tracks were found 'under the counterbalance, or near it.' 1 Asked if they were 'in the right place where they would have been if a man had been caught between the counterbalance weights and the A frame,' Nix replied: He testified he did not see 'much scuff marking there.'
(3) There is nothing in the evidence...
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