Court Opinion

ID: 9676908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:37:36.191513+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:52.310493
License: Public Domain

BLEIL, Justice,
dissenting.
In deciding whether or not there is a disputed material issue of fact precluding the summary judgment, evidence favorable to the nonmovant will be taken as true, and every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the nonmovant and any doubts resolved in its favor. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d 546, 549 (Tex.1985). The only affidavit filed in connection with the motion for summary judgment is an affidavit by Flores. She states that she mistakenly left her keys in the car, that she had not given permission for anyone to use the car, and that she had never known of anyone’s car being stolen.
This court has held that a person who had left the ignition key in a car could not foresee that the car would be stolen and negligently operated. McKinney v. Chambers, 347 S.W.2d 30, 31 (Tex.Civ.App.-Tex*290arkana 1961, no writ).1 As noted by the majority, issues such as reasonableness and foreseeability are inherently issues for a jury because whether each is precluded as a matter of law depends upon all the facts and circumstances in each case. Hunsucker v. Omega Industries, 659 S.W.2d 692, 698 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1983, no writ). Inherently, a fact finder should resolve the questions of negligence and causation in this case.
Even though it would have been more prudent for Simmons to have put on summary judgment evidence, we nonetheless indulge every reasonable inference in her favor and resolve any doubts in her favor because she is the nonmovant. See Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d at 549. Under the circumstances, I conclude that there exists a fact question as to Flores’ negligence in leaving the keys in the car and as to whether such negligence was the proximate cause of the damages. A fact finder could determine that she was or was not negligent and that she could or could not have foreseen that someone might steal her car and operate it in such a manner as to do damage to another’s person or property.
I do not agree that Flores’ affidavit conclusively established a lack of foreseeability. It may have established that she may not have foreseen what happened. It did not negate the proposition that “a person using ordinary care would have foreseen that the event, or some similar event, might reasonably result therefrom.” See 1 State Bar of Texas, Texas Pattern Jury Charges PJC 2.02 (1987). I believe that a jury could find, on the facts in Flores’ affidavit alone, that a person of ordinary care would have foreseen that someone might start the car and cause damage or injury to another’s property or person. A car left with keys in the ignition might be taken by a thief, a joy rider, an unsupervised child, or by some other person who might intentionally or accidentally start the car and intentionally or accidentally damage property or injure persons. A person of ordinary care can foresee these things.
I dissent.

. To the extent that McKinney is inconsistent with my views as expressed herein, we should overrule McKinney.