Court Opinion

ID: 9660361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:11:22.626713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:18.467895
License: Public Domain

GRIFFIN, Justice
(dissenting).
This is another case in which the majority of the Court sets aside and changes a rule of law that has been well established in this jurisdiction for many years.
I agree with the Court of Civil Appeals in releasing Gehring from any liability to Strakos and to Hubbard. I also agree that Hubbard is liable to Strakos for his injuries suffered.
The case of Mansfield Construction Co. v. Gorsline, (Comm. of Appeals) 1926, 288 S.W. 1067, rehearing overruled 292 S.W. 187, recognized and established the rule in Texas that, after the acceptance of a contractor’s work by the owner, or one rightfully in possession for the owner, the contractor who has carried out his contract, is *799not liable to third parties for injuries sustained by virtue of the completed work, or defects therein. The majority recognizes that this is correct.
In Werner v. Trout, (Tex.Civ.App.1928), 2 S.W.2d 525, writ refused, the nonliability of the contractor for injuries suffered by third parties for defects in the work done, was again recognized. The Court quotes from the Indiana case of Travis v. Rochester Bridge Co., 188 Ind. 79, 122 N.E. 1, as follows:
“As affecting the liability of a contractor, the acceptance of the work by the other party to the contract operates as the intervention of an independent human agency which breaks the chain of causation so as to preclude a third party from asserting or relying on any duty on the part of the contractor to use care for his safety in the construction of the work.” (2 S.W.2d p. 527, top of 1st col.).
Jones v. Beck (Tex.Civ.App.1937), 109 S.W.2d 787, writ refused, was a case where a workman on a building being erected was injured by the alleged negligence of a prior contractor in excavating certain holes for use in erecting the building. A new party was engaged in erecting concrete forms in these holes for use in making concrete walls. Jones filed his suit against Beck and in addition to alleging the negligence facts surrounding the making of the excavations also alleged that Beck’s work excavating the holes had been turned over to and had been accepted by the general contractor prior to plaintiff Jones’ injury. A general demurrer was sustained to plaintiff’s petition. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed and said:
“Furthermore, the excavation having been accepted and the construction of the concrete forms having been commenced by another subcontractor, the liability of Beck for the negligent manner in which he had done his work, in the absence of hidden defects, would cease.” (Citing numerous authorities. 109 S.W.2d 788(3)).
As said by the Court of Civil Appeals in the instant case:
“It is generally held that one is not required to foresee the negligent action of a third party or, to put it another way, that the chain of causation is effectively broken when the negligent action of another legal entity intervenes and thereby becomes an efficient producing cause of the injury.” (Citing authorities). l. c. bot. 1st col. top 2nd col. p. 769 of 345 S.W.2d 769.
In Glade v. Dietert, 156 Tex. 382, 295 S.W.2d 642 (1956) an attempt was made to recover damages from an original contractor for destruction of plaintiff’s premises. The contractor, Glade, entered upon plaintiff’s premises under circumstances which made him a trespasser.
In reversing and rendering the two lower courts’ judgments in favor of plaintiff against the trespassing contractor, this Court held:
“The decisions generally hold that under a contract with a municipality for the construction of public works the contractor is liable to third parties only for negligence in the performance of the work and not for the result of the work performed according to the contract. Daly v. Earl W. Baker & Co., Okl., 271 P.2d 1114; Tidewater Construction Corp. v. Manly, 194 Va. 836, 75 S.E.2d 500; Marin Municipal Water District v. Peninsula Paving Co., 34 Cal.App.2d 647, 94 P.2d 404; Yearsley v. W. A. Ross Const. Co., 309 U.S. 18, 60 S.Ct. 413, 84 L.Ed. 554; Panhandle Construction Co. v. Shireman, Tex.Civ.App., 80 S.W.2d 461; Swilling v. Knight, Tex.Civ.App., 205 S.W.2d 421; Blair v. Waldo, Tex.Civ.App., 245 S.W. 986.”
So, in the instant case, the majority holds Gehring liable for the results of his work, even though he had completed his contract in accordance with his contract.
*800See also Nedler v. Neece Lumber Co. (Tex.Civ.App.1933), 63 S.W.2d 403, no writ history; S. Blickman, Inc. v. Chilton (Tex.Civ.App.1938), 114 S.W.2d 646(1-3), no writ history; 30 Tex.Jur.2d p. 524, 535; 27 Am.Jur. p. 534-5, Sec. 55; Restatement of the Law, Torts, Vol. 2, p. 1026; 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 95b, p. 613.
In discussing the general subject of a contractor’s liability for negligent performance of his contract, we find the following set out in 13 A.L.R.2d 207, Sec. 4 (1950):
“In relieving the contractor of liability to third persons injured as a result of his negligence in the construction, the courts have relied very heavily upon the line of reasoning that where the owner has knowledge of the defective construction of the structure and accepts the work and with such knowledge, permits third persons to come in contact therewith, the owner is himself thereby rendered guilty of negligence and such negligence on his part becomes the proximate cause of the third person’s injury, and the original negligence of the contractor' becomes the remote cause thereof relieving him of liability.”
The same annotation sets out that among the reasons given for nonliability of the contractor after acceptance of his work, are the following: There would be no terminal date as to liability of contractor unless you set date of acceptance; no duty of care is owed by the contractor to a third party; and the intervention of an independent agency.
In that portion of the annotation which sets out the general rule of nonliability of the contractor for injuries to a third party found on pp. 201 et seq., cases are cited from Arkansas; California; Connecticut; District of Columbia; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky, Louisiana; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan ; Minnesota; Missouri; Mississippi; Nebraska; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Virginia; Washington; and Wisconsin — a total of 32 jurisdictions in which the general rule is recognized.
In 58 A.L.R.2d 865, (1958) there is a discussion of the “modern trend” not to follow the acceptance of work doctrine. It says that the better reasoning supports the rule of liability of the contractor as set forth in the McPherson case.
However, as sustaining this statement cases are cited only from Delaware; District of Columbia; Louisiana; New Hampshire; New York; Ohio; and Pennsylvania; for a total of only 7 jurisdictions. This annotation also recognizes that rule of nonliability is still the majority rule in the United States. In addition to the 32 states set out in 13 A.L.R.2d 201, this annotation in 58 A.L.R.2d 873 adds two additional states as supporting the general rule, viz., Arizona and Florida.
In discussing the application of the rule which holds manufacturers or processors of chattels as liable to third parties injured by defects in the manufactured article, the annotation in 13 A.L.R.2d p. 106, says, in part:
“While there is sufficient similarity in respect of liability to such third persons, between the situation of a manufacturer of articles and a building or construction contractor, to warrant the application to the latter of legal principles governing the liability of the former, there are also material factors or considerations applicable to one which are not applicable to the other, which in a particular instance may require the application of the rule of non-liability to a builder or construction contractor although under similar circumstances a rule of liability might have been applied to a manufacturer or processor. Thus, a manufacturer or processor of articles in manufacturing or processing the same does not ordinarily act as a contractor with the intermediate dealer, and the articles are *801not usually prepared according to specifications prescribed by the intermediate dealer, whereas a building or construction contractor frequently undertakes to construct the thing contracted for with the contractee according to the latter’s specifications. In such cases the contractee knows, or he is presumed to know, that the structure contracted for is likely to result in injury or damage to third persons, and the contractor may not ordinarily be expected to question the safety and soundness of his contractee’s specifications or plans for the work. There is, therefore, found in the relation of the contractor and the contractee elements lacking in the relation of a manufacturer and intermediate dealer which would warrant the application of the doctrine of proximate cause in such a way as to connect the injury more closely to the negligence of the contrac-tee in exposing third persons to the danger of faulty specifications and separate it from the contractor’s original negligence in constructing the dangerous structure.”
In addition, I would add that the manufacturer or processor of the food or chattel knows that his product is going to the ultimate consumer without change from the condition in which it leaves his plant; there is no contract right or duty on the inter-medians handling his article or product to make any correction or deviation in or from its original condition — in fact such change is ordinarily impossible; he knows his product or article will reach the ultimate consumer within a comparatively short time; his product is not a part of a larger overall effort to accomplish a unified, integrated and completed product or object. A contractor, on the other hand, contributes, at most, a very few steps toward the finished product; other contractors must work on the product; the subsequent contractors are charged with a duty of taking the contract in the condition in which they receive it and molding it into a finished product safe and usable by all persons. To make prior contractors having no control over the project liable after their work is accepted is to make liability all continuing with no cut off point. This liability would have to be protected against in the price bid by each contractor, thereby raising the total contract price out of all proportion to its present value.
We find that the contract between Harris County and Gehring covers the moving and resetting of a 2000 foot four-strand barbed wire and cedar post fence along the Matthews farm and to “cut off the front 10 x 60 feet of the Matthews corral and add it onto the back * * * closing the front in along the new right-of-way.” This was a part of an overall contract for the moving and resetting of some 41,688 feet of four-strand barbed wire fence and cedar posts in the fence. There is not one word which required Gehring to refill any post holes. The County was under the duty to secure the new right-of-way and to remove and reset the fencing and remove all structures along the new right-of-way. When this was done, the County was through with its obligations. Gehring was likewise through with his obligations. It was the State’s responsibility to take over the right-of-way, and to finish the paved farm to market highway. The State let the contract to Austin Bridge Company for its part of the construction so as to secure the paved highway. Austin Bridge let the contract for preparing the right-of-way for surfacing and removing the obstructions to Hubbard. It was Hubbard’s duty to blade the shoulders and the rest of the right-of-way not actually occupied by the roadway and to place the right-of-way in condition for the finished roadway. Austin Bridge retained for itself the paving of the actual roadbed.
The jury found that Gehring completed his part of the job June 18th or 19th, and that his work was accepted by Harris County as of that date. It also was shown that Gehring had finished his contract in full compliance with its terms. The jury found that the State and Hubbard had charge and control of the right-of-way on July 2nd, *802when Strakos was injured. The jury further found that Hubbard and Harris County knew of the unfilled post holes at the time the County accepted the Gehring contract as fulfilled, and that Hubbard was guilty of negligence in not filling in the post holes prior to July 2nd.
There is no reason shown in the record that Gehring, as a reasonable man, should not rely on Austin Bridge and Hubbard doing what their contract required them to do. There were some 5,500 post holes unfilled along the old fence line. Had the County wanted Gehring to fill these, it could easily have put this requirement in its specifications.
Gehring complied with everything the County required him to do and with everything for which the County paid him. Under his contract, he owed no duty to anyone to fill in the post holes. Hubbard and Austin Bridge were getting paid to fill in the post holes and they owed a duty to do that very thing.
I would hold that Gehring’s leaving the post holes open was not a proximate cause, but was a remote cause of Strakos’ injury.
This holding is in accord with the existing law of Texas and some thirty other states. I would not change this rule of law. I think the law must have permanence if our economy is to be able to progress. Before a rule of law should be changed, the old rule must be reasonably unworkable and the proposed new rule should make for a clearer and more workable result, not lead to confusion and uncertainty as I believe is the result of the majority opinion herein.
CALVERT, C. J., joins in the dissent.