Court Opinion

ID: 9778045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:30:58.257608+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.378540
License: Public Domain

COHEN, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the result reached in this case. However, I would follow Whipple v. Deltscheff, 731 S.W.2d 700, 703 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1987, writ ref’d n.r.e.), and hold as a matter of law that “grief and bereavement” are elements of “mental anguish.” I can find no basis to permit recovery of damages for “mental anguish,” plus a separate, additional recovery for “grief and bereavement.” If there is a distinction, it is a very fine distinction, and not worthy of the machinations required of litigants and courts attempting to avoid a double or overlapping recovery of damages. “Distinctions which are too fine are apt to lead to needless perplexities and purely legalistic results.” Houston Transit Co. v. Felder, 146 Tex. 428, 208 S.W.2d 880, 883 (1948). It would be more fair to submit a single “mental anguish” issue, accompanied by an instruction broad enough to include every type of mental anguish, including “grief and bereavement,” and all the others.