Court Opinion

ID: 9770183
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:53:48.514973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:15.586787
License: Public Domain

DOGGETT, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the court’s judgment but write separately because it should, and could, be based solely upon our holding in Jim Walter Homes, Inc. v. Reed, 711 S.W.2d 617, 618 (Tex.1986). Today’s brief writing concerning the nature of torts and contracts unnecessarily adds more confusion than clarity.
*500The court does recognize that in some as yet unspecified instances a tort action may lie between contracting parties. It appropriately observes that a tort action may arise based upon a number of relationships that could be created by contract. Although the court offers only one example of a contractual relationship creating duties the breach of which gives rise to actions both in tort and contract, at 497 n. 1 (the relationship between a professional and client), our developing jurisprudence recognizes others. See, e.g., Viles v. Security Nat’l Ins. Co., 788 S.W.2d 566, 567 (Tex.1990) (relationship between insured and insurer). In addition, the court correctly recognizes that the breach of certain common-law duties creates liability in tort; the existence of a contract does not alter those duties.
It is thus incumbent upon the trial courts not to begin and end their inquiry with the contract but to examine the circumstances surrounding the parties’ relationship, including any duties imposed by law, in determining whether a tort action may be maintained.