Rivera v. South Green Ltd. Partnership

208 S.W.3d 12, 2006 WL 2567175
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 12, 2006
Docket14-05-00128-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 208 S.W.3d 12 (Rivera v. South Green Ltd. Partnership) 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
Rivera v. South Green Ltd. Partnership, 208 S.W.3d 12, 2006 WL 2567175 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

KEM THOMPSON FROST, Justice.

This is a premises-liability case in which an employee was assaulted in the workplace. Appellants, the employee and her husband, challenge the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of the building owner and its security company. We conclude the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the building owner, but that it ruled correctly as to the security company. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s judgment in favor of the security company, but reverse the trial court’s judgment as to the negligence/premises liability claim against the building owner and remand that claim to the trial court further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Factual AND Procedural Background

On Saturday morning, September 15, 2001, Michelle Rivera went to her place of employment at Hope Star Orthopedic Facility, a medical facility located at 12700 North Featherwood Drive in Houston, Texas. She arrived around 8:30 a.m., went to her office, and began transcribing medical notes. Around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, while working alone, a male unknown to her entered her office, came up behind her, and placed a sharp knife to her throat. The assailant demanded her money and jewelry. After taking the money from her purse, he led Rivera out of the office to the bathroom, and forced her to remove her clothing while he watched. When Rivera had disrobed, the assailant grabbed her clothes off the floor and knocked her unconscious. The assailant then fled, throwing Rivera’s undergarments in a garbage can outside her office as he left. Rivera awoke later lying on the bathroom floor, badly beaten, and in a pool of her own blood. Her husband, Jeff Rivera, arrived at the building shortly thereafter, and took her to the hospital for treatment.

As a result of this incident, the Riveras filed this suit against South Green Limited Partnership (“South Green”), O’Connell Realty Advisors, Inc. (“O’Connell Realty”), and Kastle System of Texas, L.L.C. (“Has-tie”). The Riveras alleged that, at the time of the assault, South Green owned the property on which the Hope Star Orthopedic Facility was located, O’Connell *16 Realty maintained and operated the property, and Kastle provided security for the property. The Riveras asserted various claims for fraud, constructive fraud, negligent misrepresentation, violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act (“DTPA”), negligence, gross negligence, breach of contract, and breach of warranty. South Green, O’Con-nell Realty, and Kastle filed traditional and no-evidence motions for summary judgment on all claims. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants on all claims. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(c), (i). 1 The Riveras now appeal the trial court’s judgment in favor of South Green (the building owner) and Kastle (the security company).

II. Issues Presented

As to South Green and Kastle, 2 the Riv-eras assert the following issues on appeal:

(1) Did the trial court err in granting South Green’s traditional motion for summary judgment on the duty element of the negligence claim?
(2) Did the trial court err in granting South Green’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment on the breach-of-duty element of the negligence claim?
(3) Did the trial court err in granting both South Green’s and Kastle’s no-evidence motions for summary judgment on the DTPA claims?
(4) Did the trial court err in granting Kastle’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment on the Riveras’ third-party-beneficiary-breach-of contract claim?

III. Standard of Review

We review a traditional motion for summary judgment by determining whether the movant carried its burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that judgment should be granted as a matter of law. KPMG Peat Marwick v. Harrison County Hous. Fin. Corp., 988 S.W.2d 746, 748 (Tex.1999). To prevail on a traditional summary-judgment motion, a defendant must conclusively negate at least one essential element of each of the plaintiffs causes of action or conclusively establish each element of an affirmative defense. Sci. Spectrum, Inc. v. Martinez, 941 S.W.2d 910, 911 (Tex.1997). Under this standard, we take as true all evidence favorable to the nonmovant, and we make all reasonable inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. Dolcefino v. Randolph, 19 S.W.3d 906, 916 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, pet. denied). If the movant’s motion and summary-judgment evidence facially establish its right to judgment as a matter of law, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to raise a genuine, material fact issue sufficient to defeat summary judgment. Id.

In reviewing a no-evidence motion for summary judgment, we ascertain whether the nonmovant pointed out summary-judgment evidence of probative force to raise a genuine issue of fact as to the essential elements attacked in the no-evidence mo *17 tion. Id.; Johnson v. Brewer & Pritchard, P.C., 73 S.W.3d 193, 206-08 (Tex.2002). We take as true all evidence favorable to the nonmovant, and we make all reasonable inferences therefrom in the nonmovant’s favor. Dolcefino, 19 S.W.3d at 916. A no-evidence motion for summary judgment must be granted if the party opposing the motion does not respond with competent summary-judgment evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact. Id. at 917.

IV. Analysis

A. Did the trial court err in granting South Green’s traditional motion for summary judgment on the duty element of the Riveras’ negligence claim?

In their first issue, the Riveras contend that the trial court erred in granting South Green’s traditional motion for summary judgment on the duty element of their negligence claim because they raised a genuine issue of material fact on this element.

In a typical negligence case, a plaintiff will prevail only if she can establish that the defendant owed her a duty of care that was breached as a result of the defendant’s acts or omissions and that the type of harm that resulted from those acts or omissions was caused by and reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. See Allen v. Connolly, 158 S.W.3d 61, 65 (Tex.App.-Houston [14 Dist.]2005, no pet.). The Riv-eras’ arguments at trial, and on appeal, center on foreseeability and the existence of a legal duty, if any.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
208 S.W.3d 12, 2006 WL 2567175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rivera-v-south-green-ltd-partnership-texapp-2006.