Besso v. Southworth
Besso v. Southworth
Opinion of the Court
This suit was brought by appellee against appellant, to enjoin him from permitting a bawdy house to be kept upon certain property owned by him. in the city of Corsicana, and to recover damages caused by the nuisance.
The allegations of the petition show that the defendant was the owner of a house and lot in the city, and that the plaintiff owned other houses and lots in the same vicinity, upon one of which he resided with a wife and children—the other being used “for rental purposes;” that for two years previous to the filing of the petition the defendant had rented his house to lewd women as a place of prostitution, and that during all that time it had been occupied by his consent by such women as a place of public prostitution. It was also averred that during the time the inmates of the house, “at all hours of the day and night, had been guilty of boisterous, vulgar and indecent conduct, in the view and hearing of this plaintiff and his family and his tenants.” It was also alleged in substance that the plaintiff and others had used efforts to abate the nuisance by prosecuting the inmates, by warning the defendant, and by notifying him in writing not to permit the house to be used for such purposes; and that notwithstanding this, for the purpose of shielding himself from the consequences of his conduct, he had made a deed to the keeper of the house, which was without considertion and “a sham and fraud.” The petition
The court charged the jury that if they found for the plaintiff and awarded damages, that they would state in their verdict how much was allowed for permanent depreciation in the value of the property, how much for loss of rents and how much for injury to the plaintiff’s feelings; but also .charged them that they should not give exemplary damages. The jury found for plaintiff, and gave twenty-five dollars as damages for loss of rents and seventy-five dollars for injury to his feelings, and that there had been no depreciation in the value of his property.
It is insisted that the pleadings did not warrant an award of damages for a loss of rents, and that, therefore, the charge of the court instructing the jury to find such damages was error. We do not concur in the proposition. The allegations of the petition indicated that the plaintiff had been damaged by the difficulty in renting his property as well as by depreciation, and alleged his aggregate damages from this source at twe thousand dollars. We think that this was sufficient in a general way to apprise the defendant of the nature of plaintiff’s claim in these particulars, and that if he had desired a more specific allegation he should have interposed a special exception to the petition.
It is also complained, in effect, that the court erred in instructing the jury that the plaintiff could recover for the injury to his feelings, as actual damages; and the proposition is submitted, that mental- suffering is not an element of actual damages in such a case. There is no statement of facts in the record, and it is a general rule that, in the absence of such statement, errors assigned upon the charge of the court will not be considered. (Dewees v. Hudgeons, 1 Texas, 192; Berge v. Warehop, 23 Texas, 441; McMahon v. Rice, 16 Texas, 335; Lewis v. Black, 16 Texas, 652; Flanagan v. Ward, 12 Texas, 209.) If it should be conceded that the proposition insisted upon is correct, then the question would arise: Has the defendant been prejudiced by the error in the charge?
Mental suffering being an element to be considered in the estimate of exemplary damages, if the pleadings and evi
There being no error in the proceedings of the court below, which has operated to the prejudice of appellant, the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Opinion delivered November 16, 1888.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Peter Besso v. John Southworth
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Pleading.—In an action for damages alleged to have been caused by defendant by leasing a house to prostitutes to injury of plaintiff, who owned adjacent houses and lots use 1 as homestead and for leasing for rent, damages being specified as difficulty in renting and in depreciation in value; held that a charge of the court submitting diminished rental value as an element of damages was. within the allegations in the petition, and was not error, there being no special exception to the allegations in the petition. 2. Practice—Absence op Statement op Pacts.—In absence of a statement of facts it will be presumed that the allegations in the petition were sustained by the testimony upon the plaintiff recovering. A charge of the court that no testimony was produced to an important allegation will not control such presumption. 3. Injury to Peelings.—The allegations in the petition showed a wanton and wilful invasion of plaintiff's rights by the defendant in persistently leasing his houses to prostitutes after being warned not to do so. In such state of facts injury to feelings would constitute an element in exemplary damages which would properly be submitted to the jury. 4. Charge.—The charge of the court submitted to the jury as basis for computation of actual damages, (1) impaired rental value, (3) diminished value of the property, and (d) injury to feelings, also charging that no exemplary damages would be given. The verdict for plaintiff, was for twenty-five dollars for diminished rental and seventy-five dollars for injury to feelings. The allegations in the-petition making a case for exemplary damages, in absence of a statement of facts, it is unnecessary to determine whether “injury to feelings” in such case could be compensated as actual damages. Under the petitition presumed to have been proven it was properly allowed to plaintiff, and the error, if one, was not material.