Allen Ex Rel. B.A. v. Albin

97 S.W.3d 655, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 9291, 2002 WL 31926413
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 31, 2002
Docket10-01-063-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 97 S.W.3d 655 (Allen Ex Rel. B.A. v. Albin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen Ex Rel. B.A. v. Albin, 97 S.W.3d 655, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 9291, 2002 WL 31926413 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

OPINION

BILL VANCE, Justice.

This is a personal injury case. Billie Ann Allen, as next friend of Bradley Allen, a minor, sued Frances Albin (the dog’s owner) and Gladys Haferkamp (Bradley’s baby-sitter) for damages as a result of an injury inflicted by a dog. Both Albin and Haferkamp filed summary-judgment motions that were granted by the trial court. Allen argues that the trial court erred in granting the defendants’ motions. We will reverse the judgment in part and affirm it in part.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

During 1985, Gladys Haferkamp provided day-care services to Jack and Billie Ann Allen by caring for their seventeen-month-old son, Bradley Allen. Haferkamp ran a day-care business at her home in Waco, where she took care of Bradley and two other children. Frances Albin lived next door to Haferkamp and their backyards were adjacent to one another, separated by a chain-link fence. Albin kept a dog in her backyard. On November 13, 1985, Bradley was bitten or scratched by the dog as he was standing next to the chain-link fence. The dog apparently attacked Bradley through the fence. Although Haf-erkamp was standing near Bradley, she did not see the dog in time to prevent the attack. As a result, Bradley suffered lacerations to his face. He was taken to the hospital where he received stitches to close the lacerations.

In 2000, Bradley, on his physician’s recommendation, began to consider cosmetic surgery to reduce or remove the residual scarring caused by the lacerations. In May of that year, on Bradley’s behalf, his mother brought this suit against Albin and Haferkamp seeking compensation for her son’s injuries. Because Albin had died, Allen sued her heirs.1

After some discovery, the defendants filed summary-judgment motions. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a. Allen filed responses to both motions and offered evidence to support her claims. Albin filed a written motion objecting to part of Allen’s summary-judgment evidence, and the day the summary-judgment hearing was scheduled, Allen asked for a continuance seeking more time to cure possible defects in her summary-judgment evidence. The court granted the request and set the hearing for a later date. Allen then filed supplemental responses to both Albin’s and Haferkamp’s [659]*659summary-judgment motions and offered additional evidence. Albin again filed a written motion objecting to part of Allen’s evidence. Shortly thereafter, the court held a hearing on the defendants’ summary-judgment motions and also on Al-bin’s objections to Allen’s evidence. At the end of the hearing, the court granted both summary-judgment motions. On appeal, Allen contends that the trial court erred in doing so.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF ALBIN

We initially address Allen’s issue concerning the trial court’s granting of Albin’s no-evidence summary-judgment motion. We must also discuss a related issue involving Albin’s objections to Allen’s summary-judgment evidence.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a summary judgment de novo. Rucker v. Bank One Texas, N.A., 36 S.W.3d 649, 653 (Tex.App.-Waco 2000, pet. denied) (citing Sasser v. Dantex Oil & Gas, Inc., 906 S.W.2d 599, 602 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1995, writ denied)). We apply the same standard in reviewing a no-evidence summary judgment as we would in reviewing a directed verdict. Robinson v. Warner-Lambert, 998 S.W.2d 407, 410 (Tex.App.-Waco 1999, no pet.). We review the summary-judgment evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant, disregarding all contrary evidence and inferences. Id. A no-evidence summary judgment will be defeated if the non-mov-ant produces more than a scintilla of probative evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact on the elements challenged by the movant. Moore v. K Mart Corp., 981 S.W.2d 266, 269 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1998, pet. denied).

More than a scintilla of evidence exists “if the evidence furnishes some reasonable basis for differing conclusions by reasonable minds” about a vital fact’s existence. Kindred v. Con/Chem, Inc., 650 S.W.2d 61, 63 (Tex.1983). On the other hand, no more than a scintilla of evidence “exists when the evidence offered to prove a vital fact is so weak so as to do no more than create a mere surmise or suspicion of its existence and, in legal effect, is no evidence.” Coastal Conduit & Ditching, Inc. v. Noram Energy Corp., 29 S.W.3d 282, 284-85 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.) (citing Kindred, 650 S.W.2d at 63).

The trial court granted the motion without stating the specific reasons for doing so. When the trial court does not specify the basis for a no-evidence summary judgment, the appealing party must show it is error to base it on any no-evidence ground asserted in the summary-judgment motion. See Star-Telegram, Inc. v. Doe, 915 S.W.2d 471, 473 (Tex.1995).

Allen’s Claims

Allen pled two claims against Albin: (1) a strict liability claim; and (2) a negligence claim for injuries caused by the negligent handling of the dog.2

Strict liability

Allen alleged that Albin was strictly liable for Bradley’s injuries because she knew or should have known that her dog was capable of causing injury to others. Under Texas law, strict liability is imposed only in very limited situations, such as in products liability cases involving dangerously defective products or cases involving a dangerous domesticated animal. E.g., Firestone Steel Prods. Co. v. Barajas, 927 S.W.2d 608, 613 (Tex.1996) [660]*660(involving defective products); Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255, 258 (Tex.1974) (involving animals known to be vicious). The elements of a strict liability claim for injury by a dangerous domesticated animal are: (1) the defendant was the owner or possessor of the animal; (2) the animal had dangerous propensities abnormal to its class; (3) the defendant knew or had reason to know the animal had dangerous propensities; and (4) those propensities were a producing cause of the plaintiffs injury. Owens v. Coury, 614 S.W.2d 926, 928 (Tex.Civ.App.-Amarillo 1981, no writ)3; Wells v. Burns, 480 S.W.2d 31, 33 (Tex.Civ.App.-El Paso 1972, no writ).

Negligent handling of an animal

With respect to the negligence claim, Allen contended that Albin owed a duty to ensure that her dog would not cause injury to anyone. Allen claimed that Albin breached that duty by failing to take “reasonable steps” to prevent the dog’s contact with Bradley.

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Bluebook (online)
97 S.W.3d 655, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 9291, 2002 WL 31926413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-ex-rel-ba-v-albin-texapp-2002.