Opinion ID: 473028
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Correctness Under the Substantive Law of Texas

Text: 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.