Reagan v. Vaughn

• Decision Date: 19 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. C-9548,C-9548
• Citation: 804 S.W.2d 463
• Parties: William David REAGAN, et al., Petitioners, v. Lester VAUGHN, et al., Respondents
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 463

804 S.W.2d 463

59 USLW 2428

William David REAGAN, et al., Petitioners, v. Lester VAUGHN, et al., Respondents.

No. C-9548.

Dec. 19, 1990.

Rehearing Overruled In Part

March 6, 1991.

Mr. William Fred Hagans, Sylvette C. Bobb, Houston, for petitioners.

Mr. John P. Venzke, Houston, for respondents.

OPINION

GONZALEZ, Justice.

In this case, we are presented with the issue of whether a child has a right to recover damages for loss of consortium and mental anguish when a parent is injured but not killed by the tortious conduct of a third party. The court of appeals, stating that it did not have the authority to recognize such a cause of action, ¹ modified the judgment of the trial court by deleting the award of damages for loss of parental consortium. The judgment was affirmed in all other respects. 784 S.W.2d 88. We reverse that portion of the court of appeals' judgment deleting the damages awarded to Julia Reagan for lost parental consortium and otherwise affirm.

I. FACTS

David Reagan was involved in a fight with another patron in the parking lot of K-Jacs Saloon in Pasadena, Texas. During the course of the fight, the manager of the bar, Vaughn, struck Reagan on the head with a baseball bat. Reagan suffered a severe brain injury and now functions at the level of a six- or seven-year-old child. Reagan and his minor daughter, Julia, sued Vaughn as well as the owners of K-Jacs, Keith Nichols and Ernest Rosenovac. The jury found that Vaughn, Nichols, and Rosenovac were each 20% negligent and that Reagan was 40% negligent. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $2,432,000 to Reagan and $405,000 to Julia. ($200,000 for loss of "parental care, nurture and guidance:" $25,000 for mental anguish in the past and $180,000 for mental anguish in the future). The trial court rendered judgment in conformity with the verdict.

II. PRIOR DECISIONS

This court has never addressed the issue of whether a child may recover damages for the loss of parental companionship, love, and society when a parent is injured. ² The courts of appeals of this state that have addressed the issue have refused to allow recovery of such damages on the grounds that only this court or the legislature have the authority to recognize such a cause of action. See Ramos v. Champlin Petroleum Co., 750 S.W.2d 873, 878 (Tex.App.--Corpus Christi 1988, writ denied); Graham v. Ford Motor Co., 721 S.W.2d 554, 555 (Tex.App.--Tyler 1986, no writ); Hughes Drilling Fluids, Inc. v. Eubanks, 729 S.W.2d 759, 762 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1986), writ granted, judgment set aside and cause remanded for consideration of parties' settlement agreement, 742 S.W.2d 275 (Tex.1987); Jannette v. Deprez, 701 S.W.2d 56, 61 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Bennight v. Western Auto Supply Co., 670 S.W.2d 373, 379-80 (Tex.App.--Austin 1984, writ ref'd n.r.e.). The Fifth Circuit has concluded that no such cause of action exists in Texas. In re Air Crash at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on August 2, 1985, 856 F.2d 28, 29 (5th Cir.1988).

In Sanchez v. Schindler, we stated that "injuries to the familial relationship are significant injuries and are worthy of compensation." 651 S.W.2d 249, 252 (Tex.1983); see also Cavnar v. Quality Control Parking, Inc., 696 S.W.2d 549, 551 (Tex.1985). Sanchez established that a parent has the right to recover damages for the loss of the companionship and society resulting from the death of a child. Sanchez, 651 S.W.2d at 254. Cavnar established that a child has the right to recover damages for the loss of companionship and society resulting from the death of a parent. Cavnar, 696 S.W.2d at 551. Both Sanchez and Cavnar involved interpretation of the Texas Wrongful Death Act. TEX.CIV.PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. §§ 71.001-71.011 (Vernon 1986). In the present case, Reagan was not killed; thus our analysis does not include interpretation of the wrongful death statute. Rather, we must decide whether, given our previous recognition of the significance of injuries to the familial relationship, ³ this court should recognize a common law cause of action for loss of consortium damages that result from injury to a parent. ⁴

III. SHOULD THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP BE PROTECTED?

"The common law is not frozen or stagnant, but evolving, and it is the duty of this court to recognize the evolution." El Chico Corp. v. Poole, 732 S.W.2d 306, 309-10 (Tex.1987). "The law is not static; and the courts, whenever reason and equity demand, have been the primary instruments for changing the common law through a continual re-evaluation of common law concepts in light of current conditions." Whittlesey, 572 S.W.2d at 668. We fashion our analysis after that in Whittlesey and inquire whether the parent-child relationship in our modern society is "as worthy of protection from negligent invasion as are other legally protected interests." Id.

In Sanchez, we recognized that the death of a child inflicts upon his parents a loss of love, advice, comfort, companionship and society. Sanchez, 651 S.W.2d at 251. Likewise, in Cavnar we held that a child suffers equivalent losses from the death of a parent. Cavnar, 696 S.W.2d at 551. And in Whittlesey, we acknowledged that nonfatal injury to a spouse can result in a real, direct, and personal loss to the other spouse. 572 S.W.2d at 667. We would be hard pressed to say that a serious, permanent and disabling injury to a parent does not potentially visit upon the child an equally serious deprivation. ⁵ In the present case, Julia Reagan has been deprived of essentially any opportunity for further parent-child exchange with her father. A child faced with Julia's circumstances can no longer experience the joy of shared experiences with her parent, and she is denied the care, guidance, love, and protection ordinarily provided by her parent. There is no principled reason to accord the parent-child relationship second class status:

While all family members enjoy a mutual interest in consortium, the parent-child relationship is undeniably unique and the wellspring from which other family relationships derive. It is the parent-child relationship which most deserves protection and which, in fact, has received judicial protection in the past. (citations omitted).

The loss of a parent's love, care, companionship, and guidance can severely impact a child's development and have a major influence on a child's welfare and personality throughout life.

Villareal v. State, 160 Ariz. 474, 774 P.2d 213, 217 (1989). The obvious and unquestionable significance of the parent-child relationship compels our recognition of a cause of action for loss of parental consortium.

Respondents have suggested that recognition of this cause of action will somehow have the snowball effect of leading to recognition of actions in favor of siblings, grandparents, close friends, and so on. We have little difficulty limiting recovery to the parent-child relationship. We recognize, as did the Wisconsin Supreme Court, that the two relationships likely to be most severely affected by a negligent injury to a person are the husband and wife relationship and that of the parent and child:

The distinction between the interests of children and those of other relatives is rational and easily applied. Most children are dependent on their parents for emotional sustenance. This is rarely the case with more remote relatives. Thus, by limiting the plaintiffs in the consortium action to the victim's children, the courts would ensure that the losses compensated would be both real and severe.

Theama, 344 N.W.2d at 521. Consistent with our prior recognition that adult children may recover for the wrongful death of a parent, ⁶ we decline to limit the right of recovery under this cause of action to minor children. "Although minors are the group most likely to suffer real harm due to a disruption of the parent-child relationship, we leave this to the jury to consider in fixing damages." Ueland, 691 P.2d at 195; see also Audobon-Exira Ready Mix, Inc. v. Illinois Cent. Gulf Co., 335 N.W.2d 148, 152 (Iowa 1983) ("even adult and married children have the right to expect the benefit of good parental advice and guidance") (citing Schmitt v. Jenkins Truck Lines, Inc., 170 N.W.2d 632, 665 (Iowa 1969)).

IV. SHOULD RECOVERY INCLUDE DAMAGES FOR MENTAL ANGUISH?

Respondents assert that the jury's award of mental anguish damages to Julia violates Freeman v. City of Pasadena, in which we held that a stepfather who was not located at or near the scene of an accident involving injury to his stepsons could not recover for negligent infliction of mental anguish. 744 S.W.2d 923 (Tex.1988).

A claim for negligent infliction of mental anguish is separate and distinct from a child's claim for loss of parental consortium and loss of consortium does not include an element of mental anguish. McGovern v. Williams, 741 S.W.2d 373, 374 (Tex.1987); Moore v. Lillebo, 722 S.W.2d 683, 687-88 (Tex.1986). A cause of action for loss of consortium is derivative of the parent's claim for personal injuries. See Whittlesey, 572 S.W.2d at 667. In order to recover, the child must prove that the defendant is liable for the personal injuries suffered by her parent, and any defense that tends to constrict or exclude the defendant's liability to the injured parent will have the same effect on the child's consortium action. See Reed Tool Co. v. Copelin, 610 S.W.2d 736, 739 (Tex.1981).

On the other hand, a claim for negligent infliction of mental anguish that is not based upon the wrongful death statute requires that the plaintiff prove that he or she was, among other things, located at or near the scene of the accident, and that the mental anguish resulted from a direct emotional impact upon the plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the incident, as contrasted with learning of the accident from others after the occurrence. Freeman, 744 S.W.2d at 923-24. Julia has not met either of these requirements...