Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. McCaslin
Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. McCaslin
Opinion of the Court
This is a workmen’s compensation case. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Myrtle Ivy McCaslin, appellee here and plaintiff below, prior to the time of her alleged 'injury, had been employed by the Crescent Laundry, Inc., at Tyler for over
Appellant seeks reversal on seven points of error. The first point is concerned with the alleged misconduct of the appellee, and the remaining with the submission of an issue upon the wage rate.
The case went to trial on May 6, 1957. The forenoon of that day was taken up with the selection of the jury and about 12:30, after the jury was selected, sworn and instructed in its duties, court was recessed until two o’clock. A lady juror who was employed by a loan company with an office near the courthouse went to her office during this lunch period to do some work. While there, Myrtle Ivy McCaslin, appellee, entered the office and came up to the counter which was about eight feet from the desk where the lady juror was seated, and engaged her in conversation. This juror as a witness at the hearing on the motion for mistrial testified to the nature, substance and effect of this conversation, as follows:
“Q. How did she address you, Miss Morrison? A. Well, somewhere in the conversation, she called me ‘Honey.’ I don’t remember where it was.
“Q. What did she say to you, if anything ? A. She asked me about my people that she knew that lived in Missouri, and she said that she wished that she had known how to get in touch with them, she would have liked to have my brother’s mother-in-law come down and help her on this case, but she didn’t know how to get in touch with them. She asked about my mother and father and how they were, that it had been a long time since she had seen them.
“Q. All right, how did you treat her? A. Pretty cool, because I was scared.
“Q. All right, did that scare you? A. Yes, it frightened me very much.
“Q. And while she was standing there, did she say anything to you with reference to your helping her on this case? A. Not while she was standing there, but when she turned to go out the door, she—
“Q. Just tell the Court what she said to you. A. She said something like, ‘Be sure and do all you can to help me.’ I am not sure that that was her exact words, but that was the text of it.
“Q. Did you make any reply to that? A. No, I didn’t.
“Q. Did it scare you? A. It certainly did.
“Q. What did you do as soon as she had left? A. Well, I just got up from my desk and walked back to Mr. Jackson’s office, because he had overheard the conversation, and he told me that he thought I should call the Judge and tell him about it, but I was too upset to call, and I went on back to the rest room.
“Q. How long were you in the rest room? A. I imagine five or ten minutes. I was trying to get myself together.
“Q. All right, and when you came out of the rest room did Mr. Jackson*595 say anything to you? A. He told me that he had called Judge McKay’s office.
“Q. Did you ever call Judge McKay or attempt to call him, yourself? A. No.”
Mr. Jackson, responding to the instinct of a good citizen, called the judge’s office and reported to the judge’s secretary that Mrs. McCaslin had been in the loan office during the noon recess, but that the case on trial was not discussed. He requested that the judge call him. The judge’s secretary reported to the judge that Mr. Jackson called and gave him the information that the case was not discussed, and the judge made no effort to return the Jackson call, because he assumed that Mr. Jackson had given his secretary all the information he had in connection with the matter. Shortly after the court reconvened, counsel for appellant and appellee were called into the court’s chambers and advised of the information the judge had been given by his secretary. The court and counsel had no additional information as to the occurrence in the loan company office between the appellee and the juror; and the case continued in trial for three days, and on May 8th the jury returned its verdict. About 30 minutes after the jury was discharged, Mr. Jackson telephoned the law office of appellant’s counsel and advised counsel in full of the occurrence in his office. Appellant thereupon filed its motion for new trial. After a full hearing at which the lady juror, Mr. Jackson, counsel for the appellant and four of the lady’s fellow jurors, including the foreman, testified, the court overruled the motion for mistrial upon the grounds that “It does not reasonably appear from the evidence both on the hearing of the motion and trial of the case and from the record. as a whole that injury probably resulted to defendant by reason of the communication made to the juror by the plaintiff.”
The trial judge after hearing and considering the evidence, construed Rule 327, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, as being applicable to the factual situation presented by the record, and concluded that a mistrial was not in order. As applied to this situation the Rule reads: “Where the ground of the motion is * * * (a) communication made to the jury * * * the court shall hear evidence thereof from the jury or others in open court, and may grant a new trial if (he finds) * * * the communication (was) made * * * (and) it reasonably appears from the evidence both on the hearing of the motion and the trial of the case and from the record as a whole that injury probably resulted to the complaining party.” (Emphasis supplied.)
The appellant vigorously insists that this is actually a tampering with a jury case rather than a case of jury misconduct in the usual sense of receiving an outside communication. In other words, that the appellee’s misconduct so taints and corrupts the action of the jury that a reversal should be had to preserve the inviolability of the jury system. A large number of cases is cited in support of this contention, including St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. of Texas v. Gilpin, Tex.Civ.App., 73 S.W.2d 1054, wr. ref. With the exception of one, which is distinguishable on the facts, all the cases cited where the misconduct of a party communicating with the jury or a juror is the basis of a reversal, occurred prior to the promulgation of Rule 327. The source of the Rule is Article 2234, V.T.C.S. The statute did not contain the language emphasized in the stripped-down rendition of the Rule in the preceding paragraph. Because of this addition it is thought that the cases decided prior to the Rule are not controlling.
The appellee, a 56-year-old woman, while acting within the course and scope of her employment, slipped off a platform and injured her right leg and lower back. She was taken to a hospital within the hour, and operated upon for the injuries within a few days thereafter. The evidence shows her to be a hardwork
The trial court apparently intended to submit the issue of the appellee’s average weekly wage in accordance with Subsec. 3, Sec. 1 of Art. 8309. The appellant complains that certain evidence raised an issue making applicable the provisions of Subsec. 2 and that issues should have been submitted to the jury to determine Mrs. McCaslin’s average weekly wage rate thereunder. The burden of securing this submission being on appellee and she having failed to do so, appellant contends that under this record she is not entitled to a judgment in any amount.
Appellee’s average weekly wage does not seem to have been seriously contested in the trial court. The evidence regarding Mrs. Barnes, a fellow employee of the same class and in similar employment which appellant contends raises such issue, arose in this manner:
“Q. Do you know how many days Mrs. Barnes worked from February 4, 1955, to February 4, 1956? A. No, I don’t. I have a record of it, but I couldn’t say without looking at the record.
“Q. Do you know whether she worked, from your keeping of the records, can you tell us from your memory as to whether she worked approximately 300 days or about 300 days or a little over 300 days? A. Who do you mean, Mrs. Barnes?
“Q. Mrs. Barnes. A. Yes, I expect she did. She isn’t off very much.”
Analyzing the answers quoted above, it appears that the first is a positive statement that the witness did not know how many days the employee Mrs. Barnes worked between February 4, 1955
All appellant’s points of error having been considered and finding that no error requiring a reversal is shown, each point is respectfully overruled.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- TEXAS EMPLOYERS' INSURANCE ASS'N v. Myrtle Ivy McCASLIN et vir
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- 3 cases
- Status
- Published