In all jury cases the court may submit said cause upon special issues without request of either party, and, upon request of either party, shall submit the cause upon special issues controlling the disposition of the case that are raised by the written pleadings and the evidence in the case, except that, for good cause subject to review or on agreement of the parties, the court may submit the same on a general charge.
It shall be discretionary with the court whether to submit separate questions with respect to each element of a case or to submit issues broadly. It shall not be objectionable that a question is general or includes a combination of elements or issues. Inferential rebuttal issues shall not be submitted. The placing of the burden of proof may be accomplished by instructions rather than by inclusion in the question.
In submitting the case, the court shall submit such explanatory instructions and definitions as shall be proper to enable the jury to render a verdict and in such instances the charge shall not be subject to the objection that it is a general charge.
The court may submit special issues in a negligence case in a manner that allows a listing of the claimed acts or omissions of any party to an accident, event, or occurrence that are raised by the pleadings and the evidence with appropriate spaces for answers as to each act or ommission which is listed. The court may submit a single question, which may be conditioned upon an answer that an act or omission occurred, inquiring whether a party was negligent, with a listing of the several acts or omissions corresponding to those listed in the preceding question and with appropriate spaces for each answer. Conditioned upon an affirmative finding of negligence as to one or more acts or omissions, a further question may inquire whether the corresponding specific acts or omissions (listing them) inquired about in the preceding questions were proximate causes of the accident, event, or occurrence that is the basis of the suit. Similar forms of questions may be used in other cases.
In any case in which issues are raised concerning the negligence of more than one party, the court shall submit an issue inquiring what percentage, if any, of the negligence that caused the occurrence in question is attributable to each of the parties found to have been negligent, and shall instruct the jury to answer the damage issues without any reduction because of negligence, if any, of the person injured.
The court may submit an issue disjunctively where it is apparent from the evidence that one or the other of the conditions or facts inquired about necessarily exists. For example, the court may, in a workmen's compensation case, submit in one question whether the injured employee was permanently or only temporarily disabled.
The court shall not in its charge comment directly on the weight of the evidence or advise the jury of the effect of their answers, but the court's charge shall not be objectionable on the ground that it incidentally constitutes a comment on the weight of the evidence or advises the jury of the effect of their answers where it is properly a part of an explanatory instruction or definition.
Amended by order of May 25, 1973, eff. Sept. 1, 1973: The words "controlling the disposition of the case that are" have been inserted in the first paragraph; the provisions of the former rule requiring issues to be submitted distinctly and separately, in the affirmative, and in plain and simple language, have been deleted; the provision concerning placing the burden of proof has been rewritten; the first three sentences of the second paragraph and all of the fourth, fifth and seventh paragraphs have been added; the last sentence of the original rule has been deleted; and a number of minor textual changes have been made.
Answer: Prior to the effective date of the rules, the conditional submission of such issues was reversible error. SeeFederal Underwriters Exch. v. Lynch, 140 Tex. 516, 168 S.W.2d 653 (1943) and cases therein cited.