Price v. Yellow Pine Paper Mill Co.

• Decision Date: 27 February 1922
• Docket Number: (No. 762.)
• Citation: 240 S.W. 588
• Parties: PRICE et al. v. YELLOW PINE PAPER MILL CO.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

240 S.W. 588

PRICE et al. v. YELLOW PINE PAPER MILL CO.

(No. 762.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Beaumont.

February 27, 1922.

Rehearing Denied March 15, 1922.

Error from District Court, Orange County; J. Q. Adams, Judge.

Action by Mary Price and husband against the Yellow Pine Paper Mill Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs bring error. Reversed and remanded.

David E. O'Fiel and R. A. Wood, both of Beaumont, for plaintiffs in error.

Holland & Holland, of Orange, for defendant in error.

O'QUINN, J.

Mary Price, joined by her husband, R. A. Price, sued the Yellow Pine Paper Mill Company for damages to Mrs. Price, resulting to her from fright and mental shock caused by George S. Holmes, the general manager of the defendant company, taking R. A. Price, who was an employé of said company, to his home in the evening of October 6, 1916, bloody, bruised, and mashed up, resulting from an accident in the paper mill, without any warning to Price's wife, and she, being in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was so shocked and frightened at the sight of her husband's plight that she miscarried some few days later.

Plaintiffs petition, among other things, alleged, in substance, that R. A. Price, husband of Mary Price, was an employé of defendant on October 6, 1916, and while engaged in the performance of his duties was injured by the falling in of a brick furnace in which he and others were working; that he received various cuts, bruises, and wounds, from which he became very bloody, and was caused to bear a frightful appearance; that, immediately after the accident occurred, George S. Holmes, who was defendant's general manager, took charge of the situation, and directed the giving of first aid to the injured, and that in so doing he was acting within the scope of his authority; that said R. A. Price was so injured that he became unconscious and was not mentally capable of suggesting or directing as to what disposition should be made of him in his said condition, and that, being in such condition, it became the duty of the defendant to make such disposition of him as would not, under the circumstances, be injurious to others, and that defendant, acting through its said general manager, did undertake to render first aid to plaintiff R. A. Price and to make disposition of him; that defendant, acting by and through its said general manager, caused the said R. A. Price to be placed in an automobile to be carried from the scene of the accident to his (Price's) home, and that while on the way to his said home he (Price) became conscious, and protested to said Holmes, who was driving the automobile, against being carried home in his bloody and wounded condition; that he told said Holmes that his wife, Mary Price, was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, and in no condition to see him in his bloody condition, and that he would get out of the car, but that said Holmes carried him on to his home and put him out of the car in full view of his wife, Mary Price, who became so frightened and excited by his bloody plight that she became sick, and continued to suffer until she miscarried, and which sickness and miscarriage was caused by the careless and negligent act of said Holmes, after he had been informed of the critical condition of said Mary Price, and which said careless and negligent act of defendant was the direct and proximate cause of her said sickness and miscarriage.

The defendant presented a general demurrer, and numerous special exceptions to the plaintiffs' petition, which were overruled. Defendant also, by way of answer, denied all the allegations of plaintiffs' petition, and specially answered that it was a subscriber to the Texas Employers' Insurance Association of the State of Texas, and that plaintiffs would have to look to said insurance association for all damages growing out of the injuries sustained by said R. A. Price while in defendant's employ; that any duty owing to the said R. A. Price to take care of or dispose of him after his alleged injury was owed to him and due to him by said Texas Employers' Insurance Association, and not by the defendant, and that any duty owed to Mary Price was owed to her by said insurance association, and not by defendant.

The case went to trial before a jury; but, when the testimony was closed, the court instructed a verdict for defendant, upon which judgment was rendered, and from which plaintiffs appealed.

Mrs. Mary Price, plaintiff, among other things, testified as follows:

"My name is Mrs. Mary Price. I am the plaintiff in this suit. On or about and prior to October 6, 1916, I lived in the Bruner addition in Orange county, Orange, Tex. I had been living in Orange county and at Orange for about 11 months prior to that time. R. A. Price is my husband. We had been married about 14 years up to that time. My husband was employed by the Yellow Pine Paper Mill Company at and before October 6, 1916. I do not know what he was doing for them, what his job was. I had been a mother before that time. I had been the mother of six children at that time. I was about six months and some few days advanced at that time, October 6, 1916. Something happened on that day. My husband got hurt while he was working in the furnace at the paper mill. The furnace fell in on him, and Mr. Holmes brought him to our home, and I saw him. His head was all bloody, and it shocked me; I had a terrible shock. After I had this shock, I was nervous and trembling. I was sick, and I was sick all that night, and my husband was there sick, and I stayed up with him, but I was sick all that night, and the next day I was sick, and Dr. Phillips came out there, and I told him I was sick. We had to have Dr. Phillips come to see me that night and the next day, and the next night the baby was born. I was sick and have been sick ever since. I was in a terrible unhealthy condition; I was almost dead. I went over to New Orleans to the Charity Hospital and stayed over there a long time. After the birth of my child, I was in bed about 15 days, and I was sick about 6 months. After the baby was born, my periods stayed on me; I didn't get well of that. I stated to the jury that I had been a mother before and had given birth to six children. I never suffered a miscarriage before in my life."

On cross-examination:

"As to where I was in the house when my husband came home on that day, will say, I was standing in the door. I heard a car coming, and I went to the door to see who it was. Mr. Price got out of the car. He walked into the house. I don't know which seat of the car he was in. I never saw him until he was climbing out of the car. He was climbing out at the side when I saw him. I was so excited, I don't remember whether he got out from the front or the back of the car. I don't remember whether he got out back of Mr. Holmes from me or not. I was so excited, I don't remember which side of the car he got out on. I reckon the car was 30 or 40 steps from the house. There is a fence around the house. He had to come in the gate after he got out of the car. It was about 2 or 3 steps from the porch to the gate; then there is the street, you know. There was nobody else in the car besides Mr. Holmes and Mr. Price when they came up there. As to how long I came to the door before the car got there, will say, I heard the car coming, and I went to see who it was coming to the house. The car was 30 or 40 steps down the road, I guess, when I got to the door. That was between 3 and 4 o'clock in the evening, I suppose; I don't remember just what time it was. There was nobody else in the house besides myself. Nobody else came up while Mr. Price was coming up. Mr. Price laid in the bed next day after he came home. He laid in the bed all day; he didn't get up at all. I think he got up the day after that. He didn't get very much waiting on while he was in the bed. My sister came out there and did what little she could for him, and my brother-in-law, John Moore. I don't just remember how long my brother-in-law stayed over at the house when he first came over; he lived right at us. He didn't stay all day; he had to work, and he had to sleep. He had to sleep in the daytime and work at night, and he couldn't stay but a few minutes at the time when he would come in. I don't remember whether he worked the night after my husband was hurt or not. My husband was working in the daytime and my brother-in-law worked at night all the time. I don't have any idea how long my brother-in-law stayed over there; I was so excited because my husband was hurt; I thought he was nearly killed. * * * There wasn't any supper cooked that night. My little girl cooked breakfast the next morning; there wasn't very much breakfast cooked. My girl was 12 years old at that time. That was my oldest child. My youngest one was 2 years old. I did not call a doctor for Mr. Price as soon as he came in. I asked him if he had seen the doctor, and he said no, the doctor would be out there as quick as he could get out there, and I didn't call the doctor.

"Dr. Pierce and Dr. Phillips came out there between sundown and dark, I think, as well as I can remember. I was so nervous and excited until I can't remember very well; but, as near as I can remember, Dr. Pierce and Dr. Phillips came out between sundown and dark. They didn't stay long; about 30 minutes, I guess. Mr. Price was in bed when they came there. He did not get up while they were there. The doctor didn't come back until the next evening. I thought Mr. Price was going to die, he was so sick and hurt and everything, and looked so pale. I just kept somebody running to the 'phone all the time, trying to get the doctor, and late the next evening, just about dusk, Dr. Phillips came, and he examined Mr. Price's chest and back, and said there was several broken bones, two or three, I don't remember just how many, and he bound him up with plaster and he wanted me to help him, hold the lamp for him, and kinder help him...