Court Opinion

ID: 9772987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:34:30.369691+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:49.594026
License: Public Domain

STEPHEN F. PRESLAR, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent on the basis that the special issues create a cause of action which would support a judgment. By their wording they present more than findings of an implied warranty, its breach, and resulting damages.
The issues and the jury’s answers are:
Special Issue No. 1
Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendant impliedly warranted to Plaintiff that he would, at all times, in his treatment and relationship with Plaintiff, comply fully with the ethical commandments of his calling as a psychiatrist?
*515ANSWER: “We Do” or “We do not”
ANSWER: We Do
Special Issue No. 2
Do not answer Special Issue No. 2 unless you have answered Special Issue No. 1 “We Do.”
Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that on or about August 14, 1978, Defendant breached his implied warranty inquired about in Special Issue No. 1 in one or both of the following particulars?
ANSWER: “We Do” or “We do not”
A. By physically beating the Plaintiff We Do
B. By sexually using Plaintiff We Do
Special Issue No. 3
Do not answer Special Issue No. 3 unless you have answered “We Do” in Special Issue No. 2 “A” or “B”, or both of them.
Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant’s breaching of his implied warranty, as found in Special Issue No. 2A or 2B proximately caused damage to Plaintiff?
ANSWER: “We Do” or “We Do Not”
ANSWER: We Do
As can be seen, the jury found more than a breach of warranty per se; it found that the defendant physically beat the plaintiff and that he sexually used her. The findings of physical beating, “2A”, and sexual using, “2B”, “proximately caused damage to plaintiff.” The findings sound in tort because of the duty not to physically do those things regardless of any canons of ethics. It was error to disregard such findings.