Court Opinion

ID: 9681841
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:59:33.522986+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:36.169177
License: Public Domain

BROOKSHIRE, Justice
concurring.
The writer readily and cordially concurs in the disposition of the case made by the Court as to Raven Arms, Inc. Tragically, Claude Diggles committed suicide on March 19, 1984. The posture of the appeal is this: The Appellants filed no written response to Raven Arms, Inc.’s amended motion for summary judgment. The Appellants had made several allegations in their petition that Raven Arms, Inc., was liable, generally, under products liability laws.
The Appellants’ posture on appeal is that the handgun in question was unreasonably dangerous for lack of warnings. That is the only contention that the Appellants assert here. No effective, efficient challenge is made by the Appellants to any of the other grounds asserted by Raven Arms, Inc.’s amended motion for summary judgment which would entitle the Arms company to summary judgment. No other legal theory of recovery or cause of action is advanced against Raven Arms, Inc., in this appeal other than that the handgun was rendered an unreasonably dangerous handgun solely for the lack of warning.
There is no dispute that the Appellants’ decedent, Claude Diggles, met his death as a result of a self-inflicted pistol shot wound. The pistol used by Claude Diggles functioned as a handgun or pistol normally functions when it is loaded and, thereafter, the trigger is pulled. When Mr. Diggles purchased the handgun he appeared altogether normal, or as normal as anyone, and he appeared very calm. He stated that he wanted the handgun for the protection of his home. The retail seller of this handgun did not purchase it directly from Raven Arms, Inc. The handgun was not sold in a loaded condition.
The granting of the summary judgment for Raven Arms, Inc., was correct inasmuch as Mr. Claude Diggles’ act of suicide was an intervening act for which the Arms company was not liable, under this record, as a matter of law. The rule in Texas is well established that an intentional suicide is an intervening act which breaks the line of causation or the causal connection between an allegedly wrongful act and the death of the decedent in a suit for wrongful death. See Exxon Corp. v. Brecheen, 526 S.W.2d 519 (Tex.1975). In Exxon, supra, the Texas Supreme Court wrote, at page 523:
“Where an action is brought under a wrongful death statute the general rule is that suicide constitutes an intervening force which breaks the line of causation from the wrongful act to the death and therefore the wrongful act does not render defendant civilly liable_”
But if a certain wrongful act, or acts, produces a rage or frenzy whereby the person committing suicide was so devastatingly injured by the defendant’s wrongful acts and, thereafter, destroys himself or herself during such rage which resulted in an uncontrollable impulse, then the wrongful act or actions of the defendant may be considered in the correct case as within the line of causation from the defendant’s wrongful acts and actions to the suicide. That is simply not our case here. This appeal definitely falls within the general rule. It is glaringly clear that Raven Arms, Inc., did not cause a mental illness nor did it cause a rage nor did it cause a frenzy nor did it bring about an uncontrollable impulse. Hence, Raven Arms, Inc., is *843simply not liable for Mr. Diggles’ tragic suicide; Raven Arms, Inc., was entitled to the summary judgment. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. sec. 93.001 (Vernon Supp.1989).
Furthermore, Raven Arms, Inc., as a manufacturer, and solely in the role of a manufacturer, does not have a duty to warn when any plain and ordinary dangers are obvious and are actually known to the injured person involved. Hagans v. Oliver Mach. Co., 576 F.2d 97 (5th Cir.1978); Metal Window Products Co. v. Magnusen, 485 S.W.2d 355 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1972, writ ref d n.r.e.); RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS, Sec. 402A, comment j (1965). Also, a warning is not required in the case where the user has special knowledge or sufficient knowledge or experience or expertise concerning the product’s ordinary dangers. Martinez v. Dixie Carriers, Inc., 529 F.2d 457 (5th Cir.1976). Mr. Diggles was not ignorant of the potentialities of the handgun. A warning by the Arms company, under this record, would have been of no effect. In fact, the pistol involved, being a .25 caliber weapon was not defective, nor was it unreasonably dangerous. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS, Sec. 402A, comments i.j.. See, generally, Patterson v. Gesellschaft, 608 F.Supp. 1206 (N.D.Tex.1985). Under present decisional precedents in our State, there cannot be a recovery based on products liability, upon the products liability theory, unless the product, itself, contains a defect. Professor Pros-ser, an eminent authority in the law of Torts, writes in The Law of Torts, (4th Ed.1971), discussing certain essential elements of products liability recovery, at page 659:
“There must, however, be something wrong with the product which makes it unreasonably dangerous to those who come in contact with it. An ordinary pair of shoes does not become unreasonably unsafe because the soles become somewhat slippery when wet; nor is there unreasonable danger in a hammer merely because it can mash a thumb. Knives and axes would be quite useless if they did not cut.”
See Hulsebosch v. Ramsey, 435 S.W.2d 161 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1968, no writ).
For the reasons set out above, I cordially join in the opinion of the Court as to Raven Arms, Inc.