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Excel Corporation v. Apodaca3/16/2001
In this proceeding, appellant Excel Corporation (Excel) appeals from a judgment in favor of appellee Jimmy Apodaca for injuries sustained during the course of his employment at Excel's meat packing plant in Friona, Texas. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
In seven issues, Excel contends error because (1) the trial court failed to strike a prospective juror for cause who admitted his bias against Excel; (2) there is no evidence or insufficient evidence to support the verdict; (3) the trial court refused to submit an issue on sole proximate cause to the jury; (4) the trial court refused to submit an instruction on new and independent cause to the jury; (5) the trial court refused to submit separate negligence questions to the jury with respect to appellee's multiple injuries; (6) the trial court included a comment in the charge on the effect of the jury's answers to certain questions; and (7) the trial court awarded over three years of prejudgment interest which accrued due to appellee's delay of the trial.
This was a personal injury suit brought by appellee who was employed at Excel for 17 years. For the last three years of his employment, he worked as an operator of the cryovac 8300 machine, which required him to reach to grab a bag filled with meat, slide the meat to the work area, and place the bag on a plate, where the bag would be removed of air and sealed. The weight of the bag varied from three to twenty pounds.
Appellee completed an employee statement of injury on April 29, 1995, reporting pain in his hand, and subsequently sought treatment from multiple doctors claiming pain in his neck and lower back as well. Appellee was released to return to light duty work by two doctors, one on June 7, 1995, and one on June 13, 1995. Both doctors found it unlikely that appellee's cervical and lumbar spine injuries were work related. However, appellee never returned to work after May 8, 1995. He continued to seek medical treatment and subsequently underwent several operations. The costs associated with appellee's carpal tunnel injury were paid for by Excel until one physician reported in August 1995 that the injury seemed to be resolved. The costs associated with his other injuries were not paid for by Excel.
Excel is a non-subscriber under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act. Appellee filed this lawsuit alleging that his hand, neck, and back cumulative trauma injuries resulted from the negligence and gross negligence of Excel in failing to provide a safe workplace. The jury found Excel negligent and awarded actual damages of $536,472.
In its first issue, Excel claims that one of the jurors, Richard Bryarly, was clearly biased and prejudiced against Excel, which required that he be dismissed for cause. Because the trial court refused to do so in response to Excel's challenge, it was forced to use one of its peremptory strikes to exclude Bryarly and was therefore required to accept juror Jill Brown. In response, appellee asserts that Excel did not establish bias or prejudice as a matter of law, and even if there was bias or prejudice, the error was harmless because the juror that Excel was not able to exclude due to the exhaustion of its peremptory strikes voted against the verdict.
A person is disqualified to serve as a juror if he has a bias or prejudice in favor of or against a party in the case. Tex. Gov't Code Ann. ยง 62.105(4) (Vernon 1998). Bias, such as to disqualify a juror, means it must appear that the state of mind of the juror leads to the inference that he will not act with impartiality, while prejudice means prejudgment and therefore includes bias. Compton v. Henrie, 364 S.W.2d 179, 182 (Tex.
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