Court Opinion

ID: 9755802
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:51:14.233551+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:11.528757
License: Public Domain

BURGESS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Quite simply, I believe the jury got it right. The majority holds there is no tort independent of the contract; I disagree. The contract simply obligates Entergy to supply electrical service. Entergy did that and Arkotex did not seek damages for any breach of that contractual duty. Entergy failed to do several things that resulted in Arkotex’s damages. Entergy failed to properly connect the meter, resulting in an understatement of the amount actually used; Enter-gy failed to timely return to Arkotex to inspect the connection and Entergy failed to timely monitor Arkotex’s bill, resulting in Arkotex’s detrimental reliance on the correctness of the bill. This negligence caused Arkotex damages and they sought compensation. The jury awarded a minimum amount of damages ($50,000), under the record, and then apportioned the responsibility 60/40 resulting in total damages of $30,0Q0.2 The jury verdict and court’s judgment should be affirmed.
In the alternative, we should remand for a retrial on the breach of contract claim since the majority holds there is no negligence independent of the contract. See Thornhill v. Ronnie’s I-45 Truck Stop, Inc., 944 S.W.2d 780, 787 (Tex.App.—Beaumont 1997, writ dism’d by agr.); Edinburg Hosp. Authority v. Trevino, 941 S.W.2d 76, 79 (Tex.1997).

. The record indicates Arkotex paid approximately $5,800 per month (almost $70,000 annually) for electrical service to Entergy. It is wild, but fair, surmise that this dispute might have been amicably settled if Entergy had feared the loss of this business.