Schaff v. Lynn
Schaff v. Lynn
Opinion of the Court
On June 12, 1920, B. J. and R. Lynn shipped two carloads of cattle from San Diego to the Fort Worth market, over the lines of railway of the Texas, Mexican Railway Company, the San Antonio & Aran-sas Pass Railway Company, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas, of which C. E. Schaff was the receiver. The Lynns sued the two companies first mentioned, and the receiver of the last-named company, for damages occasioned by delays and rough handling of the cattle, whereby one head is alleged to have been killed, and the balance lost in weight and declined in selling value. The cause was submitted upon special issues, and upon the answers thereto the court rendered judgment in -favor of the two companies against plaintiffs, and in favor of plaintiffs .against receiver Schaff for $507.96, which included interest from the day the cattle were sold on the market. The special issues, and the answers of the jury thereto, which are material here, were as follows:
“Question 4: Do you find as a fact from the evidence that the defendants, their agents, servants or employees, or either or any of them was negligent in the handling or transportation of said stock? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
“Answer: Yes.
“Question 5: If you have answered question No. 4 ‘Yes,’ then answer, did plaintiffs, B. J. Lynn and R. Lynn, sustain any damage by reason of the negligence, if any, found by you in answer to question No. 4? Answer ‘Ves’ or ‘No.’
“Answer: Yes.
“Question 6: If you have answered question No. 5 ‘Yes’ then please answer what amount of damage, if any, do you find has been sustained by plaintiffs, B. J. Lynn and R. Lynn, by reason of the negligence, if any, of the defendants? Answer in dollars and cents.
“Answer: $474.04.
“Question 7: What amount of the damages, if any, has been found by you in answer to question No. 6 was caused by the negligence, if any, of the defendant, Texas Mexican Railway Company? Answer in dollars and cents.
“Answer: None.
“Question 8: What amount of the damages, if any, has been found by you in answer to question No. 6 was caused by the negligence, if any, of the defendant, San Antonio & Aran-sas Pass Railway Company? Answer in dollars and cents.
“Answer: None.
“Question 9: What amount of the damages, if any has been found by you in answer to question No. 6, was caused by the negligence, if any, of the defendant, O. E. Schaff, receiver of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company of Texas? Answer in dollars and
“Answer: ,$474.04.”
In connection with the special issues the court instructed the jury that:
“You are further instructed that the measure of plaintiffs’ damage, if any, in this ease is the difference between the market value, of their shipment of stock at the time and the condition in which it should have arrived at its destination, and the market value of said shipment of stock at the time when and the condition in which it did arrive at its destination.”
“Did the defendants transport plaintiff’s cattle to and deliver them at Port Worth, Tex., as found by you in answer to question No. 1 of the court’s main charge and issues within a reasonable time after said cattle were received by defendants for such transportation?”
The court, however, refused to submit this issue, and its refusal is the subject of appellant’s second assignm'ent of error, the proposition thereunder being that:
“In a cattle shipment case like this, where the negligence depends on whether or not there was any delay, it is error for the court to refuse to give appellant’s requested special issues requiring them to find whether or not they • were transported within a reasonable time.”
This assignment must be sustained. It has been repeatedly held that, where a cause is submitted upon special issues, where recovery of damages is sought upon two or more distinct issues of negligence, it is the duty of the court, when properly requested, by the defendant, to submit each such issue to the jury in a separate question, and that a refusal to so submit such issues requires a reversal. Article 1984a, Vernon’d Sayles’ Ann. Civ. St. 1914; Silliman v. Gano, 90 Tex. 637, 39 S. W. 559, 40 S. W. 391; Newbolt v. Lancaster, 83 Tex. 271, 18 S. W. 740; Cole v. Crawford, 69 Tex. 124, 5 S. W. 646; Mitchell v. Tel. Co., 12 Tex. Civ. App. 262, 33 S. W. 1016; Kilgore v. Moore, 14 Tex. Civ. App. 20, 36 S. W. 317; Ry. v. Bomar (Tex. Civ. App.) 207 S. W. 570; Dallas Hotel Co. v. Fox (Tex. Civ. App.) 196 S. W. 652; Ry. v. Francis (Tex. Civ. App.) 227 S.W. 342; Jamison Co. v. Measels (Tex. Civ. App.) 207 S. W. 365; Sherrill v. Lumber Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 207 S. W. 149; Railway v. Speer (Tex. Civ. App.) 212 S. W. 762; Buckholts State Bank v. Graf, 200 S. W. 858. In the Bomar Case it is said;
“It has been repeatedly held that only ultimate issues should be submitted, and not issues on merely evidentiary facts. But there may be more than one ultimate issue of negligence in the same case if different and separate groups of facts are relied on as constituting separate and distinct acts of negligence for which recovery might be had, independent of the other. The condition of the switch track and that of the stock pens are distinct, and liability for results of negligence in the maintenance of either might exist, independently of the other. As a general rule, we should say that, where these two different conditions are relied on for recovery of damages in the same case, there are two separate and distinct issues of negligence that should be submitted separately.”
The judgment in favor of the Texas Mexican Railway Company and San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Company is not complained of, and will be affirmed, but, for the error of the court in refusing to submit the special issue requested by Schaff, the judgment -as to hiin will be reversed and the cause remanded.
Affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part.
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Reference
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- SCHAFF v. LYNN Et Al.
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