Court Opinion

ID: 9666603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:22:04.640887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:31.037592
License: Public Domain

CHAPA, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the majority opinion, but respectfully write to point out the strange similarities of the dissent here with my dissenting opinion in Newman v. Tropical Visions, Inc., 891 S.W.2d 713 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1994, writ denied). What is strange is the fact that the same author of the dissent here also authored the majority in Newman, which was in obvious disagreement with my dissent. It would therefore appear that the resulting inconsistency lends credibility to my dissent in Newman.
Newman concerned the death of Jean Newman while she was learning to scuba dive. The relevant issue was whether a release she executed relieving Tropical Visions, Inc., from “all liability whatsoever for personal injury, property damage or wrongful death caused by negligence,” id. at 716, also included a release of all liability for “gross negligence” as a matter of law.
The majority opinion in Newman, authored by the same author of the dissent here, concluded that negligence and gross negligence were “not separable,” and that *463the only difference between the two was “one of degree rather than kind.” Id. at 722, 721. In contrast, my dissent in Newman cited Transportation Ins. Co. v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10, 21 (Tex.1994), to distinguish between negligence and gross negligence and concluded that public policy prevented the waiver of acts of gross negligence because
a provider of services to the public should not be able to cause the death of a patron by an act or omission committed with a conscious indifference to that patron’s safety with absolute impunity. See Tex.Const. art. XVI, § 26 (person, corporation or company is liable for exemplary damages for homicide committed through wilful act, omission, or gross negligence).
Newman, 891 S.W.2d at 725-26.
Ironically, however, the author of the majority in Newman now dissents in the instant ease, citing Transportation Ins. Co. v. Moriel as authority of “distinct differences between negligence and gross negligence,” and holds that since the indemnity contract here “does not mention ‘gross negligence’ specifically, we should not hold, as a matter of law, that the contract covers it.” Thus, the majority opinion in Newman and the dissenting opinion in the instant case would establish two conflicting and thus unfair rules that violate the “goose/gander” principle of universal law. One rule would permit an ordinary citizen to waive liability for both “negligence” and “gross negligence” by simply waiving liability for the “negligence” of a public provider, while at the same time paying for the privilege. The other rule would protect an insurance provider from liability for losses caused by “gross negligence” when contracting at arm’s length for compensation to indemnify a customer for losses caused by the customer’s “negligence.” This obvious inconsistency is aggravated by public policy implications which exist to protect the public at large rather than business entities which operate at a profit. Where the public at large is ill equipped to assume responsibility for the irresponsible acts of others, insurance businesses exist for the sole purpose of insuring at a profit against losses caused by the irresponsible acts of others. It is therefore clear where public policy should be concentrated.