Opinion ID: 2386366
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Contributory Negligence of Husband

Text: The Texas cases which have denied the wife a recovery for her personal injuries have for their basis the reasoning that, following Ezell, the recovery would be community property. Since the husband was negligent, he should not be permitted to recover for his own wrong; and since the husband shares in a recovery for the community property, there should be no recovery. Dean Page Keeton, in analyzing the holdings in the early cases, writes that, it might be said that contributory negligence is a bar, not because it is unjust to hold the defendant but because it is unjust for the negligent plaintiff [the husband] to benefit from his own wrong. And it is for this reason that the Texas courts... will not allow an injured spouse to recover for personal injuries, where the other spouse contributes to produce the injuries by negligent conduct. Keeton, Imputed Contributory Negligence, 13 Texas Law Review 161 at 177 and 179 (1935). This reasoning is spelled out in Northern Texas Traction Co. v. Hill, 297 S.W. 778 (Tex.Civ.App.1927, writ refused) where the court pointed out that the husband had a half interest in the cause of action. Hence his contributory negligence would be a defense, for to hold otherwise would be to allow him to recover regardless of his own negligence. 297 S.W. at 780. In other situations, our decisions have not denied a wife to recover where the husband has been guilty of wrongdoing. Thus in Nickerson v. Nickerson, 65 Tex. 281 (1886), the husband and a third party had the wife wrongfully imprisoned. It was argued that she should not be permitted to recover from the third person because the recovery would be community, and hence the husband would profit from his own wrong. Before the case came to trial, there was a divorce. Contrary to the dictum of Ezell and in line with the other authorities cited above, this Court held, ... like other choses in action [for injuries to the person] not reduced to possession during the coverture, the sum recovered would be her separate estate. 65 Tex. at 283. In any event, the reason for the rule that the negligence of the husband should be imputed to the wife (that he would profit from his own wrong) falls where the recovery for her injuries is her separate property. We have held that such recovery is her separate property, and the recovery will not be to him or the community. Therefore, the contributory negligence of the husband does not bar the recovery by the wife. Cases which have followed the dictum of Ezell and have used the community property defense (imputed negligence) are therefore wrong and should be overruled. Accordingly, the language in Missouri Pacific Ry. Co. v. White, 80 Tex. 202, 15 S.W. 808 (an adopted opinion by the Commission of Appeals, 1891), and the holding of Dallas Railway & Terminal Company v. High, 129 Tex. 219, 103 S.W.2d 735 (1937), and cases following them such as Northern Texas Traction Co. referred to above, are overruled in so far as they conflict with this opinion. In the case at bar, the only acts of contributory negligence pleaded, submitted, and found were those of Mr. Franco. Mrs. Franco is therefore not barred from those items for which she may recover, set out above. Where, as in the case of medical expenses and lost earnings, the recovery would be community, the contributory negligence of the husband must be attributed to the marital community so far as affects any right of action on behalf of the marital community. De Funiak, Principles of Community Property (1971) § 83. Other points are brought forward which include questions dealing with the admissibility of evidence dealing with contributory negligence, or not, of the husband in stopping his car upon the highway without proper lights burning. We have examined all the points, and we are in substantial agreement with their handling by the Court of Civil Appeals. They are overruled. The opinion and judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals was that the part of the judgment of the trial court which denied a recovery to the husband was affirmed; but as to the wife, that court reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the cause for a new trial. The effect of the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals was to sever the cause of action of the wife for such damages as she may be entitled to recover, but its judgment did not so provide. We order such a severance. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals is reformed to provide for a severance; and as reformed, it is affirmed.