Be Specific, Please

The court has issued some interesting comments in connection with the denial of a motion for rehearing in a condemnation case.  In the jury charge conference, Dallas County objected to the property owner’s proposed definition of “Cost to Cure,” but the specific basis of the objection was unclear.  The trial judge eventually summarized the objection as being that the instruction amounted to a comment on the weight of the evidence, and the County agreed.  The trial judge fixed that problem by modifying the instruction to award cost to cure damages, “if any.”  On appeal, the County attempted to argue that the definition was actually “an incorrect statement of Texas law,” but the court of appeals rejected that claim:

A party objecting to the jury charge must “point out distinctly the objectionable matter and the grounds of the objection.” Tex. R. Civ. P. 274. When the complaining party’s objection is, “in the opinion of the appellate court, obscured or concealed by voluminous unfounded objections, minute differentiations or numerous unnecessary requests, such objection or request shall be untenable.” Id.
Reviewing the reporter’s record of the charge conference, we cannot determine the County’s exact complaint to the trial court concerning “cost to cure” except that it constituted a comment on the weight of the evidence. The trial court addressed that complaint by modifying the statement of the definition.

The court also rejected the County’s argument that the property owner’s expert had offered conclusory opinion testimony, since the County had failed to raise an issue as to the legal sufficiency of the testimony.  In its appellate briefing, the County had challenged the trial court’s admission of the expert testimony as being an abuse of discretion, but did not attack the legal sufficiency of the testimony.  For that reason, the court declined to evaluate whether the testimony was conclusory, and therefore denied the County’s motion for rehearing.

Dallas County, Texas v. Crestview Corners Car Wash, No. 05-09-00623-CV