Court Opinion

ID: 9665535
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:50:56.304581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:16.495164
License: Public Domain

GILBERTO HINOJOSA, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
While I concur with the majority in its determination of the other issues in the case, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the Court’s opinion which reversed the jury’s award of punitive damages to the Shearses. I would find that there is sufficient evidence to support the award of exemplary damages and that the Shearses did satisfy the two-pronged test of Transportation Ins. Co. v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10 (Tex.1994).
Under Moriel, gross negligence involves two components: 1) the defendant must have conscious indifference, or actual knowledge, of an extreme degree of risk and 2) the defendant’s act or omission will likely cause a serious injury. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d at 21.
Wesley Buchele, the Shearses’ expert witness, testified that, in his opinion, Caterpillar’s selling and designing a rollover protective structure (ROPS) that could be removed was consciously indifferent to the workers who operate the machine. He testified that having a removable ROPS increased the marketability of the loader but did not help in protecting the operator. He also stated that had the ROPS been in place, Mr. Shears would not have been injured.
The majority opinion noted that Caterpillar knew that if the ROPS were removed the margin of safety provided by the ROPS was also removed. Despite this knowledge, neither Caterpillar nor Holt supplied any warnings regarding the danger of operating a loader without a ROPS. Mr. Shears, an experienced loader, testified that he did not know or appreciate the dangers of operating a loader without a ROPS. He stated that he would not have operated the loader had he been warned that the loader was dangerous. Mr. Shears did operate the loader without a ROPS and as a result suffered serious injuries from a collision with another loader.
Thus, I would find that there is sufficient evidence to establish gross negligence and I would affirm the award of exemplary damages to the Shearses.