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City of Brownsville v. Alvarado3/30/1995
eir failure to timely perform the cell check on their understanding that booking procedures, which usually take ten to twenty minutes, had priority over cell checks.
At trial, the jail manual was admitted into evidence, but the trial court excluded evidence relating to the personnel history of one of the jailers, a previous suicide attempt at the jail, state and other jail standards, and alternative measures for identifying suicidal inmates. The jury was asked three questions: (1) did negligence, if any, of the City proximately cause Ricardo's death, (2) did the negligence or intentional conduct of Ricardo proximately cause his own death, and (3) what percentage of the negligence or intentional conduct that caused the death was attributable to the City and what percentage was attributable to Ricardo. The jury was instructed not to answer Question 3 unless it answered "yes" to both Questions 1 and 2. The jury answered "no" to Question 1, "yes" to Question 2, and did not answer Question 3.
Two issues concerning the conduct of the trial are presented for our review. First, whether the submission of Question 2 was harmful error. Second, whether the trial court's exclusion of some of the Alvarados' evidence was harmful error. We address each issue in turn.
The court of appeals determined that the submission of Question 2, inquiring about Ricardo's own conduct, was improper because Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 93.001 prohibits the use of suicide as a defense if the suicide was caused in whole or in part by the City's breach of a legal standard. The court then determined that the improper submission was harmful because when read in conjunction with Questions 1 and 3, Question 2 confused and misled the jury into focusing on the cause of death, which was undisputedly suicide, instead of focusing on whether the City was negligent in allowing Ricardo to commit suicide. The City contends that the submission of Question 2 was harmless error in light of the jury's answer to Question 1.
Submission of an improper jury question can be harmless error if the jury's answers to other questions render the improper question immaterial. Boatland of Houston , Inc. v. Bailey, 609 S.W.2d 743, 750 (Tex.1980); Texas & New Orleans R.R. co. v. McGinnis, 130 Tex. 338, 109 S.W.2d 160, 163 (1937). A jury question is considered immaterial when its answer can be found elsewhere in the verdict or when its answer cannot alter the effect of the verdict. Fleet v. Fleet, 711 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tex.1986); C. & R. Transp., Inc. v. Campbell, 406 S.W.2d 191, 194 (Tex.1966); Powers v. Standard Accident Ins. Co., 144 Tex. 415, 191 S.W.2d 7, 9 (1945). Submission of an immaterial issue is not harmful error unless the submission confused or misled the jury. Bailey, 609 S.W.2d at 750; H E. Butt Grocery Co. v. Johnson, 226 S.W.2d 501, 504 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1949, writ ref'd n.r.e.). When determining whether a particular question could have confused or misled the jury, we "consider its probable effect on the minds of the jury in the light of the charge as a whole." Texas Employers Ins. Assign v. McKay, 146 Tex. 569, 210 S.W.2d 147, 149 (1948) (citing Russell v. Great Am. Indem. Co., 127 Tex. 458, 94 S.W.2d 409, 410 (1938)).
Assuming without deciding that submission of Question 2 (Ricardo's negligence) was improper, it was plainly immaterial in light of the jury's "no" answer to Question 1 (the City's negligence). Once the jury found in answer to Question 1 that the City did not proximately cause Ricardo's death, the City was exonerated of liability, and neither an affirmative nor a negative answer to Question 2 could have altered the verdict. Reading the charge as a whole, we do not d that
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