Texas Drydock, Inc. v. Davis

4 S.W.3d 919, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 8764, 1999 WL 1062192
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 23, 1999·No. No. 09-97-326 CV·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinions

OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

BURGESS, Judge.

In reponse to the motion for rehearing filed by Texas Drydock, Inc., we withdraw [921]*921our opinion of August 26, 1999, and substitute the following in its place.

Texas Drydock, Inc., appeals from a judgment in favor of Louis Davis, following a jury trial on Davis’ personal injury claim. Davis suffered an injury while working for his employer, Crumpler Shipbuilders, Inc., on a cherry picker crane owned by Texas Drydock. Texas Drydock raises four issues on appeal.

At the time of the incident in question, Crumpler Shipbuilding, Davis’ employer, maintained and repaired equipment for Texas Drydock. Davis was injured when he jumped from the cherry picker he was repairing. Texas Drydock’s first three issues concern whether it exerted any control or right of control over the premises at the time Davis was injured.

Davis counters that this is not a premises liability case at all, but is instead a claim under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 323 (1965). This section provides that:

One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of the other’s person or things, is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking, if (a) his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of harm, or (b) the harm is suffered because of the other’s reliance upon the undertaking.

Id. The Texas Supreme Court has adopted this section of the Restatement. See Colonial Savings Ass’n v. Taylor, 544 S.W.2d 116, 119-20 (Tex.1976).

Davis testified that prior to the accident in question he had asked Bill Hardy, the safety coordinator for Texas Drydock, for some non-skid tape. He indicated Hardy told him to go ahead and get it. Davis stated when he told Hardy that he did not know where to buy it, Hardy said he would check into it to see if he could find, and get, Davis some. According to Davis, about two or three weeks later, he asked Hardy about the tape and was told it was hard to find and Hardy was still working ■ on getting some. The last time Davis talked to Hardy about it, Hardy told Davis he was still checking into it.

In Fort Bend County Drainage Dist. v. Sbrusch, 818 S.W.2d 392, 396-97 (Tex.1991), the Texas Supreme Court considered this issue. The court noted the American Law Institute (ALI) expressed no opinion as to whether the making of a promise, without entering upon performance, is a sufficient undertaking. Id. at 396. The court stated “[a] mere promise to render a service coupled with neither performance nor reliance imposes no tort obligation upon the promisor” and recognized that some courts “have imposed liability for breach of a promise alone in which there had been no performance but where the plaintiff’s harm resulted from reliance on the promise.” Id. The court then noted that in the case before it, there was “neither the slightest performance by the promisor nor reliance by the injured party.” Id. The court found they “need not decide whether such reliance on the promise alone would give rise to liability. Without some affirmative course of action beyond the making of a mere promise or without reliance on that promise, the [defendant] cannot be held liable for [the plaintiffs] injuries.” Id. at 397.

To summarize, the court in Fort Bend found that a promise without either performance or reliance was not an undertaking, and expressly declined to decide whether a promise with reliance was an undertaking. But section 323 provides that “[o]ne who [922]*922undertakes ... to render services ■ to another ... is subject to liability ... if (a) his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of harm, or (b) the harm is suffered because of the other’s reliance upon the undertaking.” Thus, section 323 provides that if either an increased risk of harm or reliance is present, only “an undertaking” is required to establish liability. The question, therefore, is whether “an undertaking” requires more than a promise, i.e., does it require “in any way entering upon performance.” We find it does not.

We hold a promise can constitute an undertaking. This is not inconsistent with either the All's comment or Fort Bend because under section 323 there still must be, in addition to the promise, either an increased risk of harm or reliance. Accordingly, we find Hardy’s representations comprise an undertaking that, when coupled with Davis’ reliance, constitutes an affirmative course of action such that Davis had a basis for a claim under section 323 of the Restatement. Since Davis had a viable cause of action based upon a theory other than premises liability, Texas Drydock’s contentions contained in issues one, two and three are overruled.

Texas Drydock argues in its final issue the evidence is both legally and factually insufficient to support the jury’s failure to find Davis’ negligence was a proximate cause of his injuries. In considering a legal sufficiency point, we consider only the evidence or inferences from the evidence favorable to the decision of the trier of fact and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965). When attacking an adverse failure to find, on which it had the burden of proof, the appellant must show the evidence conclusively established all vital facts in support of the issue. Sterner v. Marathon Oil Co., 767 S.W.2d 686, 690 (Tex.1989); Holley v. Watts, 629 S.W.2d 694, 696 (Tex.1982).

We consider all the evidence when reviewing a factual sufficiency challenge. If the challenge is to a failure to find, we reverse only if the failure to find is so contrary to the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and manifestly unjust. Ames v. Ames, 776 S.W.2d 154, 158 (Tex.1989); Cropper v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 754 S.W.2d 646, 651 (Tex.1988).

The accident in question occurred when Davis was working on a cherry picker trying to determine the cause of the transmission failure. Davis gained access to the transmission by climbing from the cab to the fender of the cherry picker, where he descended into the area where the transmission parts were located. He was attempting to return to the cab when his foot slipped on the fender. Davis felt he was going to fall and rather than fall in an uncontrolled manner, he jumped to the ground, a distance of about six feet, injuring his back.

Davis admitted he had access to the steam cleaning equipment and tried to clean any equipment before working on it. Davis said he was supposed to steam clean the equipment when he could. Davis testified that Randy Crumpler told him, “Texas Drydock said not to clean it because they do not have time to clean it.

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Texas Drydock, Inc. v. Davis, 4 S.W.3d 919, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 8764, 1999 WL 1062192 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

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