Court Opinion

ID: 9677150
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:44:54.610975+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:54.276097
License: Public Domain

GONZALEZ, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with Justice Hecht’s opinion but write separately to note that my fear that Pool v. Ford Motor Co., 715 S.W.2d 629 (Tex.1986) would be used by this court to second guess the courts of appeals has been realized. See Pool, 715 S.W.2d at 638 (Gonzalez, J., concurring). The court of appeals has twice found the evidence factually insufficient; we have no jurisdiction to review it.
The accident that gave rise to this lawsuit occurred in January 1981. The case was tried in March 1983. The court of appeals initially remanded this case for a new trial in April 1985. Since then we have been playing ping pong with the court of appeals and have prevented this case from being retried.1
In Pool, the court acknowledged that the overwhelming majority of the courts of appeals applied the correct standards of review but nonetheless imposed on the courts of appeals a new requirement to detail the evidence when reversing on sufficiency grounds. We are now swamped with requests to second guess the courts of appeals, that is, to make rulings on sufficien*388cy grounds. The losing party will always allege that the court of appeals erred in reversing a jury verdict or if it refuses to reverse on sufficiency grounds, that the court of appeals used the wrong standard. Either way, this court is becoming entangled in the review of eases on sufficiency grounds; this is clearly unconstitutional. Tex.Const. art. V, § 6; Herbert v. Herbert, 754 S.W.2d 141, 143 (Tex.1988).
The cost of Pool in terms of added delay and expense of litigation does not outweigh the benefits. The cure is worse than the disease. Thus, I would overrule Pool. For these reasons, I dissent.

. See Texas Brine Corp. v. Lofton, 698 S.W.2d 691 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1985), rev’d per curiam, 720 S.W.2d 804 (Tex.1986); on remand, 751 S.W.2d 197 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1988).