Opinion ID: 473028
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sole Cause Instruction

Text: 18 The district court in this case submitted a sole cause instruction, as part of its general charge, which was applicable to all three theories of recovery, negligence, products liability, and breach of warranty. 1 Appellants objected to this submission, claiming it both contravened the substantive law of Texas and constituted an improper comment on the evidence. 19
20 We initially note that [a]lthough state law governs the substance of the jury instructions, the manner of giving instructions is controlled by federal law. Martin v. Texaco, 726 F.2d 207, 216 (5th Cir.1984) (emphasis added). See McCullough v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 587 F.2d 754, 759 (5th Cir.1979); Reyes v. Wyeth Laboratories, 498 F.2d 1264, 1289 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1096, 95 S.Ct. 687, 42 L.Ed.2d 688 (1974). See also Rehler v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 777 F.2d 1072, 1082 & n. 17 (5th Cir.1985). Appellants make two substantive arguments under Texas law.
21 Appellants contend that Texas law does not permit the consideration of employer negligence when the employee plaintiff, covered under the Texas worker's compensation law, seeks recovery from the third party. As appellants note, in Varela v. American Petrofina Company of Texas, Inc., 658 S.W.2d 561, 562-65 (Tex.1983), the Texas Supreme Court held that in comparative negligence cases the employer's negligence could not be considered to reduce the employee plaintiff's recoverable damages in his suit against a third-party joint tort-feasor. The Varela court reasoned that under Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 8306 (Vernon 1967 and now Vernon Supp.1985), the Texas Worker's Compensation Act, a defendant third party cannot seek contribution from the plaintiff's employer because the employer's liability is limited by statute. Varela also held that a plaintiff employee cannot be considered to have settled with his employer, by receiving worker's compensation benefits, for purpose of Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 2212a Sec. 2(e) (now section 33.015, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code). This reasoning has since been extended beyond comparative negligence cases to products cases based on strict liability in tort. See Foley v. Cox, 679 S.W.2d 58 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, no writ). Appellants now seek to extend Varela by claiming that Varela prohibits any consideration of employer negligence for sole cause purposes. 22 However, neither Varela nor any of its progeny imply, much less hold, that a negligent third party may be liable to an employee plaintiff where the employer's acts or omissions are the sole cause of the complained of accident and injuries. Here no claim was made by Phillips for contribution or indemnity against Crown Central, and no interrogatory inquired about any negligence, fault, or tort on the part of Crown Central. The comparative fault interrogatory inquired only of the conduct of Phillips and the four appellants; no inquiry was made concerning Crown Central or any third party or third parties. Hence nothing in the charge violated Varela or any principle of Texas substantive law for which it stands.
23 Appellants next contend that recent Texas Supreme Court decisions eliminate any consideration by the jury of sole cause in a suit implicating products liability law, and thus any submission of sole cause in any form is substantive error because sole cause is no longer substantively available in these cases. In First International Bank in San Antonio v. Roper Corp., 686 S.W.2d 602, 604-05 (Tex.1985), appellants' primary authority for this proposition, the Texas Supreme Court held that the submission of a sole cause instruction in a case tried only on products strict liability in tort was reversible error. In Roper, the court stated that a sole cause instruction, such as the one here, places an undue emphasis on the ... [third party's] negligence when the jury was considering the existence of a [product] defect and its relationship to the injurious event, id. at 604, and improperly single[s] out and highlight[s] third-party conduct. Id. at 605. 24 When a sole cause instruction is submitted in a suit involving both negligence and products liability, however, it is uncertain whether Texas courts would consider the submission erroneous. See J. Sales, Product Liability Law in Texas, p 3.04 at 262, esp. n. 247 (1985). In Gross v. Black & Decker, Inc., 695 F.2d 858 (5th Cir.1983), a case decided prior to Roper, we held that a sole cause instruction was not reversible error. The Texas Supreme Court in Roper explicitly distinguished our decision in Gross on the grounds that the plaintiff in Gross asserted a negligence cause of action as well as actions in products liability. The present case is grounded solely in products liability. 686 S.W.2d at 605. Despite its opportunity to expressly disavow our decision in Gross, the Texas Supreme Court did not do so. In this case, both negligence and strict product liability were asserted and submitted to the jury. Thus we find it unnecessary to reevaluate our holding in Gross. 25 Moreover, and wholly apart from whether this suit is grounded in negligence or strict products liability, we determine that sole cause is still a valid substantive concept in Texas. Although concededly it is error in Texas courts to give a sole cause instruction in a suit grounded in strict products liability, see Roper, 686 S.W.2d at 605, the instruction is not error because sole cause is not available on substantive grounds, but rather because the Texas courts view such excess instructions as harmful surplusage. In Acord v. General Motors Corp., 669 S.W.2d 111, 116 (Tex.1984) (holding that an instruction to the effect that a manufacturer is not an insurer nor guarantees a perfect product is error), a predecessor to Roper, the Texas Supreme Court held that [t]he jury need not and should not be burdened with surplus instructions. (Emphasis added.) That court continued, stating, We explicitly approve the Pattern Jury Charge issue and instruction for design defect cases, and disapprove the addition of any other instructions in such cases, however correctly they may state the law.... Id. (emphasis added). In Roper, the Texas Supreme Court extended its holding in Acord on these surplus yet substantively correct instructions to specifically include sole cause, holding it to be surplusage of the type against which we warned in Acord. 686 S.W.2d at 604. Consequently, we find that sole cause instructions are excluded in Texas courts on nonsubstantive grounds, namely, their perceived tendency to confuse a jury or overemphasize one aspect of the case, or comment on the evidence. Id. at 604-05. Additionally, we note that in Roper the substantive validity of sole cause was not questioned. Id. at 603 (Neither party to this suit questions the correctness of the instruction as a definition of 'sole cause.' ). No claim is made that sole cause is now substantively obsolete, like charitable immunity, or contributory negligence as a complete bar to recovery. 26 In Texas, both negligence and products strict liability suits require causation, although cause in a products strict liability action does not have to be foreseeable to be considered a producing cause. See General Motors Corp. v. Hopkins, 548 S.W.2d 344, 351 (Tex.1977), overruled in other respects, Duncan v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 665 S.W.2d 414, 428 (Tex.1984); see Sales, supra, p 3.04 at p. 260, esp. n. 227. It must necessarily follow that if another person or event solely caused an injury to a plaintiff, then regardless of whether there is negligence on the part of the defendant or its product is defective, a plaintiff cannot meet his prima facie case--for the defendant's actions did not in fact cause the plaintiff's injury. 2 Consequently, we find that sole cause is viable under Texas substantive law.
27 In diversity actions, federal court jury instructions must accurately describe the applicable state substantive law. See, e.g., Bass v. International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, 630 F.2d 1058, 1061 (5th Cir.1980); Kramer v. Keys, 643 F.2d 382, 384 (5th Cir.1981); Chemetron Corp. v. Business Funds, Inc., 682 F.2d 1149, 1178 (5th Cir.1982), vacated and remanded for further consideration on other grounds, 460 U.S. 1007, 103 S.Ct. 1245, 75 L.Ed.2d 476, cert. denied sub nom. Bintliff v. Chemetron Corp., 460 U.S. 1013, 103 S.Ct. 1254, 75 L.Ed.2d 483 (1983), initial opinion adhered to on remand, 718 F.2d 725 (5th Cir.1983), rehearing en banc ordered, id. at 730. Once this obligation is met, a federal judge has discretion in how he decides to present the case to the jury, see, e.g., Bass, 630 F.2d at 1061; Smith v. Borg-Warner Corp., 626 F.2d 384 (5th Cir.1980); Coughlin v. Capital Cement Co., 571 F.2d 290, 300 (5th Cir.1978), for the form or manner of instructions is controlled by federal, not state, law, see Martin, 726 F.2d at 216. Having found the sole cause instruction by the district judge substantively correct, we decline to find error in his not precisely following the Texas practice governing the form or manner of submitting this kind of case to the jury. 3 28 Appellants assert that the district court erred by, in effect, submitting an inferential rebuttal as the controlling issue in the case. An inferential rebuttal is defined as an issue that seeks to disprove or negate an element of the plaintiff's prima facie case. See, e.g., Scott v. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Co., 572 S.W.2d 273, 279 (Tex.1978); American Jet, Inc. v. Leyendecker, 683 S.W.2d 121, 126 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1984, no writ); Transport Ins. Co. v. Liggins, 625 S.W.2d 780, 784 (Tex.App.--Ft. Worth 1981, writ ref'd n.r.e.). When a defendant asserts sole cause as a defense, he attacks causation, an element of the negligence and strict products liability causes of action. Thus sole cause is labeled an inferential rebuttal. See Sales, supra p 3.04, at 258 n. 212 and accompanying text. 29 In Texas, inferential rebuttal contentions are not to be presented to the jury in the form of separate special issues, but at the most as explanatory instructions. See, e.g., Lemos v. Montez, 680 S.W.2d 798, 800 (Tex.1984); Scott, 572 S.W.2d at 279. In Gonzales v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 511 F.2d 629, 632 (5th Cir.1975), we as a matter of federal procedure have also discouraged the submission of inferential rebuttals as a separate interrogatory, for we held that sole cause should not be submitted as an interrogatory if the jury's answer to it might conflict with its answer to another interrogatory. Id. 4 We note that here sole cause was presented as an instruction, not a special interrogatory. Since there was no possibility of conflicting answers to the interrogatories, our concern in Gonzales is not implicated. Even if a sole cause interrogatory had been utilized, we have held that special interrogatories a Federal District Judge ... submits need not be identical to those a Texas Judge must submit ... [because] [s]pecial ... matters of federal procedure are not governed by state rules. Gonzales, 511 F.2d at 632. Whether an instruction or a special interrogatory is employed is a matter of charging procedure governed by federal law, and we afford our district courts latitude in presenting state law as long as that presentation is substantively correct. Martin, 627 F.2d at 216. 30 Appellants place special reliance on Lewis v. Rego, 757 F.2d 66, 71 (3d Cir.1985), where reversal was required because the district court incorrectly charged the jury on misuse. However, the error in the charge there consisted of a misstatement of substantive law, as the jury was in effect told that any causative misuse would negate liability, while under the applicable substantive law of Pennsylvania misuse would have that effect only if it were not reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. The case was apparently submitted on a general verdict, without special interrogatories, and it therefore could not be ascertained whether the verdict for the defendant was based on a finding of reasonably foreseeable misuse, contrary to the substantive law of Pennsylvania. 31 We believe that the true nature of appellants' complaint is that the challenged charge amounted to an improper comment on the weight of the evidence, or an overemphasizing of one party's contentions. This seems to be the real basis of the decisions in cases such as Roper. As previously noted, Roper condemned a sole cause instruction stating that it placed undue emphasis on that contention and singled out and highlighted it, but observes that no party questions the correctness of the instruction there at issue. Roper relied primarily on Acord, and Acord condemned additional instructions, beyond those provided in the Pattern Jury Charges, however correctly they may state the law. 669 S.W.2d at 116. Acord stated that such an additional instruction amounted to a comment on the weight of the evidence, and that it was wrong to single out a particular defensive theory. Id. Roper characterizes Acord as condemning additional instructions which single out as being improper comments, and states that the Roper instruction was surplusage of the type against which we warned in Acord. 686 S.W.2d at 604. We cannot read Roper as being other than a condemnation of charge because it is a comment on the evidence. See also, e.g., McElroy v. Stocker, 505 S.W.2d 615, 618-19 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1974, no writ) (condemning unavoidable accident instruction as a comment on the weight of the evidence and because it gives undue emphasis to the question of unavoidable accident). 5 32 However, the rule in federal courts, whether in diversity cases or otherwise, is that the judge has the power, denied many state judges, to comment on the evidence and the power, if he chooses, to summarize the evidence and comment in a proper way on the facts and the evidence if he is careful to make it plain to the jury that they are the sole finder of the facts. Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil Sec. 2557 at 664-65 (footnote omitted). Federal trial courts have a proper discretion in summarizing and commenting upon the evidence. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1292. In the manner and method of instructing the jury, federal courts follow their own rules, regardless of state practice and legislation.... If a state-created right is to be enforced, of course the state law must be looked to for the substance of the instructions, but the form of instructions ... are procedural questions on which the federal court is not bound by state concepts. Wright & Miller, Sec. 2555 at 651 (footnotes omitted). Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. [A]bstract charges are not in much favor with the courts.... The courts have shown a distinct preference, particularly in complex cases, for instructions that relate the law to the evidence. Wright & Miller, Sec. 2556 at 659-60. The actual form of the trial court's instructions on a party's theory is within the trial court's discretion. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. A district judge has wide discretion to select his own words and to charge in his own style, ... which includes the use of illustrations to clarify an instruction. Sandidge v. Salen Offshore Drilling Co., 764 F.2d 252, 262 (5th Cir.1985). See also Martin, 726 F.2d at 215. Explanatory comments are prejudicial only if the trial court does not make it clear that the jury is the sole judge of the facts. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1292. 33 Under these standards, we perceive no error or abuse of discretion in this aspect of the charge. There was no prejudicially unfair emphasis on sole cause--the complained of language is less than two pages in a charge of over thirty pages. The charge as a whole was not unbalanced or one-sided. That the charge spoke of the specifics which Phillips contended amounted to sole cause is not ground for complaint, as there is no requirement that the charge be abstract. It was made clear to the jury that there could be more than one legal cause of an event. The jury was clearly told that they were the exclusive judge of the facts. There was nothing coercive about the charge, and nothing to indicate to the jury that the judge believed that any acts or omissions of Crown Central were in fact the sole cause of the fire. 34 Appellants point to the language in the instruction that if the jury found Crown Central's acts or omissions were the sole cause of the fire, your verdict should be for the defendant. While this told the jury the legal effect of a sole cause determination on their part, that does not render the instruction erroneous. Federal judges are free to tell the juries the effects of their answers. See, e.g., Martin, 726 F.2d at 216 (Unlike the Texas courts, federal courts are free to tell juries the effect of their answers.); Perricone v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co., 704 F.2d 1376, 1378 (5th Cir.1983) (it is proper to inform the jury of the effect of their answers to interrogatories); Porche v. Gulf Mississippi Marine Corp., 390 F.Supp. 624, 632 (E.D.La.1975) (jury may be told the effect its decision will have). Thus, we hold that here, as in Martin, instructions are a matter of discretion for the trial court and the decision to give [this] instruction[] was not an abuse of discretion. 726 F.2d at 216. 35 Finally, we think any possible error was harmless. While the reference to a verdict for defendant, if Crown Central's acts or omissions were determined to be the sole cause, was inexact, since there was no verdict form allowing a verdict for either party as such, it was clear from the charge that the sole cause claim related to the question of cause. That was the subject matter of the instruction in question. In reviewing the charge, we ignore technical imperfections. Pierce v. Ramsey Winch Co., 753 F.2d 416, 425 (5th Cir.1985). An ambiguous phrase or inaccurate clause does not necessarily destroy an entire instruction. Reyes, 498 F.2d at 1289. Nor do we see any prejudice, for the instruction, as we have seen, was substantively correct. Even if it had not been, the jury never reached the cause interrogatories. See Rehler, 777 F.2d at 1088. We think it unrealistic to conclude that there is any likelihood or substantial possibility that the jury's answers to the negligence, product dangerousness, and breach of warranty interrogatories were influenced by the instruction on sole cause, when the charge as a whole, and verdict form, which the charge went over and explained interrogatory by interrogatory, clearly showed that such interrogatories did not inquire about cause and that cause was inquired about in separate interrogatories. 36 Accordingly, we reject appellants' argument based on the sole cause instruction.