Court Opinion

ID: 9645567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:28:30.280148+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:28.408258
License: Public Domain

HILL, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that there is evidence that Exxon’s failure to provide a safe place to work was a proximate cause of Quinn’s injuries.
This Court recently reaffirmed that an injury is not foreseeable when it would not have occurred but for the unforeseeable conduct of someone other than the defendant. See Colvin v. Red Steel Co., 682 S.W.2d 243, 245 (Tex.1984). The undisputed evidence in this case is that Quinn would not have been injured but for the fact that Joyner prematurely reenergized the utility lines in violation of the electric industry’s safety procedures. There is no evidence in the record to support a finding that Exxon could have foreseen such conduct; thus, there is no evidence that Exxon proximately caused the accident.
The majority circumvented this well-established rule of law by concluding that there is evidence of proximate cause because Exxon’s defective power pole, “not Joyner’s premature reenergizing of the pole in violation of industry standards, created the hazardous condition which resulted in Quinn’s injuries.” 726 S.W.2d at 21. This reasoning conflicts with principles of tort law long recognized by this Court. “Where the facts show that the original act of negligence was superseded by a new and independent cause, courts have applied the rule of nonliability where the consequences of the new cause could not have been reasonably anticipated or foreseen.” Robert R. Walker, Inc. v. Burgdorf, 150 Tex. 603, 609, 244 S.W.2d 506, 509 (1952). The evidence establishes that Joyner’s conduct occurred after Exxon built the defective utility pole and that Quinn’s injuries would not have occurred but for Joyner’s actions. Joyner’s conduct superseded Exxon’s creation of a hazardous condition. Thus, under established case law, the dispositive issue is not whether Exxon created a hazardous condition by erection of a defectively designed utility pole, but rather whether Exxon should have foreseen that someone would prematurely energize the utility lines.
A comparison of Colvin and this cause clearly demonstrates that Colvin should control the disposition of this issue. In Colvin, the defendant created a hazardous condition by manufacturing purlins shorter than specified. Colvin, 682 S.W.2d at 245. Similarly, in this cause, there is evidence that Exxon created a hazardous condition by building a defectively designed utility pole. In Colvin, there was evidence that, after the hazardous condition was created, the plaintiff and his coworkers violated industry safety standards when they placed the purlins atop some trusses, and that their conduct was a cause-in-fact of the plaintiff’s injuries. Id. Likewise, there was undisputed evidence here that Joyner violated industry safety standards after Exxon created a hazardous condition and that his violation was a cause-in-fact of Quinn’s injuries.
In every relevant aspect, the facts of Colvin and this cause are indistinguishable. Therefore, under Colvin, Quinn was required to produce evidence that Exxon should have reasonably foreseen that Joyner would prematurely reenergize the line and injure Quinn. The majority, however, holds that there need only be evidence that Exxon created a hazardous condition that was a cause-in-fact of Quinn’s injuries. By adopting that rule, the majority has not only overruled the sound reasoning in Col-vin, but has also disregarded the well-established rule of law that an action for negligence cannot be sustained unless the plaintiff produces probative evidence that his injuries were the foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s conduct. See Farley, 529 S.W.2d at 755.
*23For these reasons, I would reverse the court of appeals and affirm the trial court’s judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of Exxon.
CAMPBELL, WALLACE and GONZALEZ, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.