Escoto v. Estate of Ambriz

200 S.W.3d 716, 2006 WL 1553786
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 14, 2006
Docket13-02-171-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 200 S.W.3d 716 (Escoto v. Estate of Ambriz) 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
Escoto v. Estate of Ambriz, 200 S.W.3d 716, 2006 WL 1553786 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice YÁÑEZ.

Following the deaths of four motorists involved in an auto accident with a Nabors Drilling employee (“Nabors”), Robert Am-briz, appellants1 asserted wrongful death actions against Nabors. A Willacy County jury returned a verdict in favor of appellants. However, the trial court granted Nabor’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (“JNOV”). Appellants appeal the JNOY. We reverse and remand.

Background

On March 17, 1998, Mr. Ambriz was driving home on Highway 490 after completing a twelve-hour graveyard shift at a Nabors’ oil and gas drilling site. As Am-briz drove home, Ambriz’s vehicle improperly crossed the highway median and collided head-on with a vehicle driven by Martin Rodriguez and occupied by Leovar-da Torres, Roberto Escoto, and Jose Gutierrez. The collision resulted in the deaths of all motorists. Appellants filed suit against Nabors and the estate of Mr. Ambriz,2 asserting numerous causes of action for negligence, gross negligence, negligence per se, and wrongful death. After a trial on the merits, the jury returned a verdict in appellants’ favor. Nabors filed a [722]*722JNOV, which the trial court granted on February 19, 2002.

Issues on Appeal

In three issues, appellants contend JNOV was improper because (1) Nabors owed a legal duty to appellants, (2) evidence presented at trial was legally and factually sufficient to support Rodriguezes’ capacity to assert wrongful death claims, and (3) the evidence was legally and factually sufficient to support the damages awarded for the conscious pain and suffering of Leovarda Torres.

By two cross-points, Nabors argues that if this Court reverses the trial court’s JNOV, it is entitled to a new trial because (1) the evidence is factually insufficient to support the findings on six jury questions, and (2) the court committed charge error.

Standard of Review

A motion for JNOV should be granted when the evidence is conclusive and one party is entitled to recover as a matter of law or when a legal principle precludes recovery.3 A trial court may disregard a jury’s verdict and render judgment notwithstanding the verdict if no evidence supports the jury’s findings or if a directed verdict would have been proper.4 To determine whether the trial court erred in rendering a JNOV, we consider only the evidence, and reasonable inferences from that evidence that tend to support the jury’s answers.5 In other words, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict under the well-settled standards that govern “no evidence,” ie., legal-sufficiency review.6 In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light favorable to the verdict, crediting favorable evidence if reasonable jurors could, and disregarding contrary evidence unless reasonable jurors could not.7

A no evidence challenge is proper when the rules of law or evidence preclude according weight to the only evidence offered to prove a vital fact.8 If the controlling law permits the vital fact, and more than a scintilla of competent evidence supports the jury’s findings, this Court will reverse the JNOV.9 More than a scintilla arises when the evidence supporting the finding, as a whole, rises to a level that would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to differ in their conclusions.10 Evidence that gives rise only to mere surmise or suspicion of the existence of a vital, material factual element is not more than a scintilla and, therefore, no evidence of the vital, material factual element to be inferred.11

[723]*723An assertion that the evidence is insufficient to support a fact finding means that the evidence supporting the finding is so weak or the evidence to the contrary is so overwhelming that the answer should be set aside and a new trial ordered.12 We consider all of the evidence in the case in making this determination.13

Applicable Law

A cause of action for negligence requires three elements.14 There must be (1) a legal duty owed by one person to another, (2) a breach of that duty, and (3) damages proximately caused by the breach.15

In their first issue, appellants contend Nabors owed them a legal duty because it (1) caused its employee, Ambriz, to become incapacitated, creating a foreseeable risk of harm, and (2) had a duty to adequately train Ambriz regarding the dangers of fatigue. Appellants further argue that Na-bors breached its duty in failing to act as a reasonably prudent employer in the same or similar circumstances.

Duty is a threshold inquiry in a negligence action.16 The existence of a legal duty is a question of law for the court to decide from the particular facts surrounding the occurrence in question.17 We review the trial court’s determination of duty on a de novo basis.18

The question of legal duty is a multifaceted issue requiring us to balance a number of factors, such as the risk and foreseeability of injury, the social utility of the actor’s conduct, the consequences of imposing the burden on the actor, and any other relevant competing individual and social interests implicated by the facts of the case.19 Although the formulation and emphasis varies with the facts of each case, three categories of factors have emerged (1) the relationship between the parties, (2) the reasonable foreseeability of harm to the person injured, and (3) public policy considerations.20

Generally, a person does not have a duty to control the conduct of an another.21 However, in Otis Eng’g Corp. v. Clark,22 the Texas Supreme Court considered, inter alia, whether an employer had a duty to prevent off-duty employees from causing an unreasonable risk of harm to others.23 In Otis, the plaintiffs asserted wrongful death claims against Otis after their wives were killed in an automobile accident caused by Otis’s off-duty employee, Robert Matheson, who had left the Otis [724]*724job site in an intoxicated state.24 In deciding the duty issue, the court focused on two factors: (1) the employer’s knowledge concerning the employee’s incapacity, and (2) the extent of control exerted by the employer over its employee.25

Regarding employer knowledge, the supreme court noted that several Otis employees informed their supervisor that “Matheson was not acting right.”26 The supervisor also acknowledged he was made aware of Matheson’s condition, and that he personally observed his condition.27 The court concluded that Matheson’s “extreme state of intoxication was well known to his supervisor and fellow workers,” and that Matheson’s supervisor “knew [he] was in no condition to drive home safely that night.”28

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200 S.W.3d 716, 2006 WL 1553786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/escoto-v-estate-of-ambriz-texapp-2006.