Court Opinion

ID: 9763406
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:44:20.391987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:42.342727
License: Public Domain

BUTTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority opinion states, without qualification: “[W]e also hold that Ruben may recover as a bystander if he proves that he was a resident in his sister’s apartment.” This is a new basis for bystander recovery in Texas (or any other jurisdiction).
Biological kinship plus residency in the same apartment as the injured relative cannot be the standard on which to base recovery by a bystander plaintiff.
The dreadful burn injuries in this case happened when three-month-old Adrian slept alone in- his bed upstairs while Ruben slept downstairs. On the morning of September 15, 1987, Adrian’s mother, Leticia Garcia, walked one child to school, leaving her three-year-old and the baby Adrian in the apartment. Ruben was asleep downstairs when the three-year-old awakened him because of the fire. Ruben rushed upstairs where the baby’s bed was burning and grabbed the baby, taking him to a neighbor who called for help. The fire department arrived; an EMS ambulance carried Adrian to the hospital; Ruben did not go with the baby in the ambulance, nor did he request to do so. All of the deposition testimony conclusively establishes there was no close emotional familial relationship between Ruben and the baby.
The supreme court delineated the Texas law in Freeman v. City of Pasadena, 744 S.W.2d 928 (Tex.1988), by applying the three-prong standard of Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal.2d 728, 740, 441 P.2d 912, 920, 69 Cal.Rptr. 72, 80 (1968):
In determining ... whether defendant should reasonably foresee the injury to plaintiff, or, in other terminology, whether defendant owes plaintiff a duty of due care, the courts will take into account such factors as the following: (1) Whether plaintiff was located near the scene of the accident as contrasted with one who was a distance away from it. (2) Whether the shock resulted from a direct emotional impact upon plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the accident, as contrasted with learning of the accident from others after its occurrence. (3) Whether plaintiff and the victim were closely related, as contrasted with an absence of any relationship or the presence of only a distant relationship.
Freeman v. City of Pasadena, 744 S.W.2d at 923-24. While the majority opinion of Freeman does not address the legal status of the stepfather there involved because he did not observe the accident, the concurring opinion (Ray, J.) does note that the real purpose of the Dillon v. Legg test is to determine whether the plaintiff’s injury is foreseeable, stating that it is the emotional attachments of the family relationship and not legal status that are relevant to foreseeability.
It is plain there must be a strong and close emotional attachment in a familial relationship between the plaintiff and the injured person to establish the basis of recovery for mental anguish, the basis being foreseeability. Was there a duty of due care owed by the San Antonio Housing Authority to the plaintiff Ruben in this case? While it is true that Ruben is the uncle of the injured baby, the summary judgment evidence establishes as a matter of law that no close familial relationship existed. Elden v. Sheldon, 46 Cal.3d 267, 250 Cal.Rptr. 254, 758 P.2d 582 (1988), clarified that the legal status of marriage or consanguinity alone is not the only proof needed to satisfy the third, prong of Dillon. There must still be an emotionally close familial relationship.
The summary judgment evidence established conclusively that Ruben was not an immediate member of the family living on *83the premises, nor was he in loco parentis to thé three-month-old injured baby. There existed no bond to the baby. Ruben stated he helped clean the apartment when he stayed there; he would give his sister some money. He never bought the groceries; he never bathed the baby; nor did he ever change diapers. He never paid household bills. Sometimes he lived with his mother, or another sister, or often his “common-law” girlfriend. He was not listed on the lease of the housing authority. Indeed, under the strict rules of the housing authority Ruben could not be an eligible “resident.” The summary judgment evidence established as a matter of law that Ruben was not a resident at the apartment of his sister, Leticia.
However, whether Ruben was a resident of the apartment is not the decisive factor; it is only one factor to consider. It is not a “prong” to determine foreseeability. The majority unnecessarily focuses on residency of an uncle, stating that he may recover if he proves residency at trial. In this case, the deciding “prong” is the lack of an "emotionally close familial relationship.” That was what was conclusively established by all the summary judgment evidence, which includes all of the depositions.
Recovery of damages for a bystander’s mental anguish cannot be based only on the legal status of a person (here the uncle) who is a resident of the same apartment (which the summary judgment proof indicates he was not). Even if he were shown to be a resident, that would be insufficient as a basis for recovery of damages as a bystander. This plainly is not the criterion for the third prong of Dillon.
The majority opinion applies an erroneous standard as the basis of foreseeability, which, as noted previously, is the real purpose of the Dillon and Freeman v. City of Pasádena test. The summary judgment should be affirmed.