Garvey v. Vawter, 09-88-222
| Decision Date | 22 June 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-88-222,09-88-222 |
| Citation | 774 S.W.2d 86 |
| Parties | Frank GARVEY, Appellant, v. Lisa VAWTER, Appellee. CV. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
This is an appeal from a summary judgment on the pleadings. No supporting affidavits were filed. Appellant filed suit alleging that appellee negligently left the keys to her parked automobile in the ignition, that a thief then stole the automobile and drove it into appellant's place of business to his damage. The trial court granted appellee's motion for summary judgment on the pleadings on the grounds that, as a matter of law, appellee's actions cannot be the proximate cause of appellant's damages. Appellant's single point of error states that the trial court erred in granting the motion for summary judgment because appellant's cause of action for negligence is not precluded as a matter of law on the issue of proximate cause.
Appellee relies upon the general rule that the owner of a vehicle is not liable to third parties injured as a result of negligent operation of the vehicle by a thief not authorized to drive the vehicle. Parker and Parker Construction Co., Inc. v. Morris, 346 S.W.2d 922 (Tex.Civ.App.--El Paso 1961, writ ref'd n.r.e.). The proximate cause of appellant's damages was independent and intervening of any act, negligent or not, of leaving keys in the ignition of a parked automobile. In order for a defendant to be held to have been negligent, the injury to the plaintiff must have been foreseeable. McKinney v. Chambers, 347 S.W.2d 30 (Tex.Civ.App.--Texarkana 1961, no writ). To be legally foreseeable, the injured party should be so situated with relation to the wrongful act that injury to him or to one similarly situated might reasonably be foreseen. A prior cause cannot be made an action for damages if it does nothing more than furnish the condition or give rise to the occasion which makes the injury possible, if such injury is the result of some other cause which reasonable minds would not have anticipated, even though the injury would not have occurred but for such condition. Wolf v. Friedman Steel Sales, Inc., 717 S.W.2d 669 (Tex.App.--Texarkana 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.).
Appellant cites Finnigan v. Blanco County, 670 S.W.2d 313 (Tex.App.--Austin 1984, no writ), for his argument that...
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Story Services, Inc. v. Ramirez
...And as shown by the Court's first opinion, no supporting affidavits were filed to meet the burden of proof. Garvey v. Vawter, 774 S.W.2d 86 (Tex.App.--Beaumont 1989), rev'd, 786 S.W.2d 263 (Tex.1990). In another summary judgment case, Finnigan v. Blanco County, 670 S.W.2d 313 (Tex.App.--Aus......
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Garvey v. Vawter
...a matter of law, appellee's action cannot be the proximate cause of appellant's damages. This court reversed and remanded for trial, 774 S.W.2d 86 (1989), on the grounds that the proper method for attacking the sufficiency of the pleadings is by special exceptions and that this should not b......
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Vawter v. Garvey
...proximate cause of Garvey's damages. The court of appeals, however, reversed the trial court's judgment and remanded the cause for trial. 774 S.W.2d 86. Because the court of appeals' decision conflicts with several of this court's prior opinions, we reverse its judgment and remand the cause......
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Garvey v. Vawter
...stating that the trial court's failure to require special exceptions had deprived Garvey of the opportunity to amend his pleadings. 774 S.W.2d 86. Because that ground for reversal had been neither raised at trial nor briefed or assigned as error on appeal, this court granted both parties' a......