Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Chojnacky
Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Chojnacky
Opinion of the Court
Appellee sued to recover damages alleged to have accrued through the negligence of appellant in allowing a torpedo or other explosive to be present in paper and other refuse, which it became incumbent on him to ' bum in pursuance of his duties as an employs of appellant. Appellant pleaded contributory negligence and assumed risk. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of appellee for $9,000.
The leading case in Texas on the subject under consideration is Railway v. Langston, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 568, 47 S. W. 1027, 48 S. W. 610, in which the able opinion of a majority of the court was delivered by Associate Justice Stephens. The case went to the Supreme Court on a dissent, and the-majority opinion was affirmed. 92 Tex. 709, 50 S. W. 574, 51 S. W. 331. It was cited and approvingly quoted from in the case of Railway v. Anglin, 99 Tex. 349, 89 S. W. 966, 2 L. R. A. (N. S.) 386. The rule enunciated by the Court of Civil Appeals and approved by the Supreme Court is as follows: “But inasmuch as appellee invited an inspection and examination of her wounded limbs. by making profert of them on the trial, we have finally concluded that the case presents a different question from that so often considered, and that its solution should not be influenced by our cherished Anglo-Saxon principle of personal security. In our opinion it would be a perversion of that principle to apply it in a case like this, where the plaintiff, unfortunate and pitiable though she may be, voluntarily lays bare before the court and jury her afflicted members for the inspection of judge, jury, and advocate. For all the purposes of the trial she thus waived her right to object, upon the ground of an invasion of her right of personal security, to a reasonable and proper examination, under the direction of the court, of the wounded parts. She thus, by her own voluntary act, conferred upon the court jurisdiction to compel what otherwise she might have refused to submit to. Having conferred the jurisdiction, she could not take it away at pleasure without trifling with the court. It lasted as long as the trial lasted.” The Supreme Court said: “The rule acted upon in that case that, where a party has once exhibited ins person to the jury to show the extent of his injuries, he may be required during-the course of the trial to re-exhibit them has never been modified by this court.”
Rule 62a (149 S. W. x) cannot be applied in regard to what might have been the result of the inspection and examination of the eyes of appellee by experts, because appellant could not set out what the result of the examination would be. It had been shown that the eyes of appellee were in a normal condition when he was last treated, some four or five months before the trial, but he swore that he was almost blind at the time of the trial, leaving the inference, either that the physician who treated him was mistaken about the condition of his eyes, or they had changed much for the worse since his examination. Appellant had no way to refute either theory, except by an examination of the eyes, but that examination could not be had at any time before or during the trial until appellee invited an inspection of his eyes by the jury. What their apparent condition may have been no one but appellee or the jurors could know, in the absence of an examination by experts. The eyes may have had an inflamed appearance, or the pupils may have been dilated so as to give them an abnormal appearance, and yet there may have been no organic trouble which would permanently affect the vision. However that may be, when appellee offered his eyes for inspection to the jury, he waived the right of inviolability of his person, and appellant had the right to demand and be given an examination of his eyes by experts of its own selection. Appellee had the right to exhibit his person1 to the jury, and an objection to such exhibition by appellant could have availed nothing. Appellant might have waited until the inspection was made before claiming the right of examination, but appellee was given notice before the inspection that an examination would be demanded. The court had no discretion as to permitting or refusing the examination of appellee’s eyes, but when profert was made of his eyes by appel-lee, the right to an examination became absolute under the facts of this case, no matter if it did delay the trial or inconvenience counsel. Delay and inconvenience amount to nothing when the -attainment of justice is the end in view. The Missouri cases cited by appellee refer to orders of the court requiring an examination of wounds, and recognize the right to such examinations without the consent of the injured parties, but make such examination conditional on convenience of the court and prompt demand for such examination upon the part of defendants.
The case of Railway v. Underwood, 64 Tex. 463, was rendered at a time when the Supreme Court held that an examination of the person of a plaintiff in a personal injury suilt could be demanded by the defendant, but held that the motion for an examination was insufficient. We have seen no case in which an examination was refused when pro-fert of the wounded- part of the body had been made. If the demand was made only after the argument to the jury had begun, it was because the inspection was never made until that time, and, if delay would have been caused thereby, appellee caused the delay. The inspection was made after the evidence of both parties had closed, and appel-lee reopened the case by offering other testimony.
The eighth and ninth assignments are overruled. The law as to assumed risk was properly given in the charges as to which complaint is made.
For the reasons herein given, 'the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
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