Opinion ID: 152251
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Objective Substantial Certainty of Harm

Text: We first consider whether Cantu’s “acts were substantially certain to result in injury to [Guerra & Moore].” See Miller, 156 F.3d at 604. Under Texas law, “A party alleging tortious interference must prove four elements to sustain its claim: (1) that a contract subject to interference exists; (2) that the alleged act of interference was willful and intentional; (3) that the willful and intentional act proximately caused damage; and (4) that actual damage or loss occurred.” ACS Investors, Inc. v. McLaughlin, 943 S.W.2d 426, 430 (Tex. 1997). 6 Case: 09-41084 Document: 00511193919 Page: 7 Date Filed: 08/04/2010 No. 09-41084 “Intentional interference does not require intent to injure, only that the actor desires to cause the consequences of his act, or that he believes that the consequences are substantially certain to result from it.” Sw. Bell Tel. Co. v. John Carlo Tex., Inc., 843 S.W.2d 470, 472 (Tex. 1992) (quotation marks omitted). “Consequence,” in this context, refers to the “interference,” not necessarily the injury. See id. (noting that “jury did not find that [defendant] desired to interfere with [plaintiff’s] contract or believed that interference was substantially certain to result from it” (emphasis added)).3 Here, the jury found that Cantu intentionally interfered with Guerra & Moore’s contractual relations and that this interference “proximately caused” damages of $1.6 million. However, the jury’s determination that the “willful and intentional act proximately caused [Guerra & Moore’s] damages” does not establish that the “acts were substantially certain to result in injury to [Guerra & Moore]” for the purposes of the § 523(a)(6) analysis. Miller, 156 F.3d at 604 (“[The debtor’s] conduct, however, could still be ‘willful’ under the objective standard, if his acts were substantially certain to result in injury to [the creditor]. The state court jury determined only that injury was proximately caused by [the debtor’s] acts, a less demanding standard than ‘substantial certainty.’” (emphasis added)). As such, Guerra & Moore, by failing to produce 3 The elements of a claim for tortious interference with prospective contract are similar and do not require specific examination for the purposes of our inquiry here. The elements of a claim for tortious interference with prospective contract are: (1) a reasonable probability that the parties would have entered into a contractual relationship; (2) an “independently tortious or unlawful” act by the defendant that prevented the relationship from occurring; (3) the defendant did such act with a conscious desire to prevent the relationship from occurring, or it knew that the interference was certain or substantially certain to occur as a result of the defendant’s conduct; and (4) the plaintiff suffered actual harm or damage as a result of the defendant’s interference. “Independently tortious” means conduct that would violate some other recognized tort duty. Johnson v. Baylor Univ., 188 S.W.3d 296, 304 (Tex. App.—Waco 2006, pet. denied) (citations omitted). 7 Case: 09-41084 Document: 00511193919 Page: 8 Date Filed: 08/04/2010 No. 09-41084 evidence beyond the state court record of judgment, has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Cantu’s conduct met the objective prong of the “willful and malicious injury” inquiry. See id. at 606 (remanding for factfindings to determine whether “[the debtor’s] actions were at least substantially certain to result in injury to [the creditor],” despite the state jury’s findings that the debtor’s actions proximately caused injury to the creditor).