Court Opinion

ID: 9778727
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:17:27.763739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:12.793282
License: Public Domain

WILSON, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority opinion. I write separately to address the Grosses’ invitation to (1) “reevaluate” the Supreme Court of Texas opinions that hold that there is no wrongful death or survival cause of action for the death of a fetus, and (2) hold for the Grosses despite these authorities that are squarely against them on this issue.
Supreme court opinions that state there is no wrongful death or survival cause of action for the death of a fetus include Pietila v. Crites, 851 S.W.2d 185, 187 (Tex.1993), Blackman v. Langford, 795 S.W.2d 742, 743 (Tex.1990), Witty v. American Gen. Capital Distribs., Inc., 727 S.W.2d 503, 506 (Tex.1987), and Tarrant County Hosp. Dist. v. Lobdell, 726 S.W.2d 23 (Tex.1987). Clearly, as the majority states, we cannot “overrule” these cases and hold that such a cause of *456action exists. See Lumpkin v. H & C Communications, Inc., 755 S.W.2d 538, 540 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1988, writ denied).
A careful reading of Blackman, Witty, and Lobdell indicates that the court has, in my view, properly restrained itself in saying that such a cause of action will not exist unless the legislature says it will exist. See Blackman, 795 S.W.2d at 743; Witty, 727 S.W.2d at 506; Lobdell, 726 S.W.2d at 23.1 These opinions do not stand for the proposition that we should not have this cause of action as a matter of policy. Instead, the supreme court’s rulings reflect the court’s unwillingness to substitute its opinion on the question of whether the cause of action should exist in Texas until the people, through the legislature, address the question. The court noted in Witty that a wrongful death cause of action is “purely a creature of statute.” 727 S.W.2d at 504. It should therefore be left to the legislature — the body that created the statute in the first place — to determine whether Texas citizens will have a wrongful death or survival cause of action for the death of a fetus.
As indicated above and in the majority opinion, we must decline the Grosses’ invitation. However, to the degree that their invitation may be construed as an attempt to raise the issue again and have it decided once and for all, I ask the legislature to accept the Grosses’ invitation and address the matter. It is time for the Grosses and others like them to have a firm answer from the one body that can rightly provide it.2

. In Pietila, the court reiterated that "there is no wrongful death or survival cause of action for the death of a fetus,” but did not address the merits of such a cause of action or discuss the legislature. 851 S.W.2d at 187. That case mainly concerned the difference between mental anguish as an element of damages in a common law negligence case and "the notion of mental anguish as a separate and independent claim.” Id.

. For the view that the supreme court could and should act to include a fetus within the Wrongful Death Act, see Justice Dunn’s concurring and dissenting opinion in Witty v. American Gen. Capital Distribs., Inc., 697 S.W.2d 636, 641-47 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1985), rev'd in part and aff'd in part, 727 S.W.2d 503 (Tex.1987).