Court Opinion

ID: 9766185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:36:43.266136+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:20.279272
License: Public Domain

PARKER, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the opinion of Justice KEITH, but add the following:
Under Subdivision 23 of Article 1995, plaintiff had the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was guilty of negligence proximately causing his injuries. In his pleading, in addition to the allegations of specific negligence which he failed to prove, he gave notice of his intention to rely upon the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. This was a sufficient pleading to permit the doctrine to become applicable. “Res Ipsa Loquitur in Texas,” by Starling T. Morris, 26 Tex. Law Rev. 257, 761 (1948). The out-of-state cases cited in the majority opinion seem to announce the correct rule: the unexplained falling of objects being transported by motor vehicle raises an inference of negligence under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.
Although plaintiff did not testify, specifically, that he was terrorized or in a position of sudden peril because of the occurrence, it seems inescapable that he was in such a position. Therefore, the fact that plaintiff did not sustain injury because the object fell from the truck — but received his injuries in avoiding a collision with the object — does not seem to be of importance. It does, however, point up the fragile nature of the plaintiff’s proof upon the venue hearing. For a discussion of the doctrine of imminent peril and emergency, see:
Goolsbee v. Texas & N. O. R. Co., 150 Tex. 528, 243 S.W.2d 386 (1951); Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Isaac, 253 S.W.2d 943, 945 (Galveston Tex.Civ.App., 1952, error ref., n. r. e.); “Imminent Peril and Emergency in Texas” by E. Wayne Thode, 40 *359Tex.Law Rev. p. 456 (1962), (beginning with “The Goolsbee Case” and the footnotes at the bottom of p. 460); Bell Cab Company v. Vasquez, 434 S.W.2d 714 (San Antonio Tex.Civ.App., 1968, error ref., n. r. e.).
Only by the two inferences mentioned has plaintiff even made out a prima facie cause of action against the defendant. As-. suming that plaintiff’s notice of intention to rely upon the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, as found in his amended pleading and amended controverting affidavit, was a sufficient compliance with Article 2007, V.A.C.S., requiring him to set out “specifically the fact or facts relied upon to confer venue”, he still failed to discharge his burden of overcoming the right of the defendant to have the cause transferred, as provided in Rule 86.