Valley Shamrock, Inc. v. Vasquez
| Decision Date | 24 June 1999 |
| Parties | (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1999) VALLEY SHAMROCK, INC., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, AND MARY LOU NIETO, Appellants, v. FRANCISCA VASQUEZ, ET AL., Appellees. NUMBER 13-97-370-CV |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On appeal from the 107th District Court of Cameron County, Texas. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Before Justices Dorsey, Yanez, and Rodriguez
Opinion by Justice Yanez
Following a fight at a Valley Shamrock convenience store, Francisco Mejia was shot and killed by Tirso and Raul Huerta. Appellees, Mejia's parents and his estate sued appellants, premises owner Valley Shamrock, store manager Mary Lou Nieto, and Diamond Shamrock Refining and Marketing Company (Diamond Shamrock), for negligence related to Mejia's death. After a bench trial, the district judge found the appellants negligent1 and awarded appellees $437,866.15 in actual damages and an additional $200,000 in punitive damages. We reverse and render judgment that appellees take nothing.
Appellants claim the trial court erred in rendering judgment against them because they did not owe Mejia a legal duty, did not act negligently, and did not proximately cause Mejia's death. Appellants further contend that the evidence does not support the award of either actual or punitive damages, that the suit as to Valley Shamrock was barred by limitations, and that the trial court erred in rendering judgment against Nieto individually. The question of legal duty is dispositive and, therefore, we address only this issue as to each of the appellants.
After dark on the night of November 22, 1993, Mejia went to a Valley Shamrock convenience store on the corner of International Boulevard and Van Buren Street in Brownsville and purchased beer. Mejia lived across the street from the Valley Shamrock, near the corner of Van Buren and 17th Streets with a relative, Delia Garcia. Tirso Huerta was also at the store that night. Huerta sat in his blue truck waiting for his friend, Tony Garcia, who had gone inside the store to purchase beer. A Valley Shamrock employee, Ismael Barron, and Huerta engaged in some banter and exchanged insults. Huerta testified that Barron was sweeping and wearing a red shirt typically worn by Valley Shamrock employees. Barron denied that he was on duty on that night, claiming that he was there strictly for personal reasons.
According to Huerta, when Mejia and his friend, Jaime Sanchez, exited the store, Barron "instigated" them against Huerta. Huerta also claimed that while on Valley Shamrock's premises, Barron, Mejia, and Sanchez threw rocks and bottles at Huerta's truck. Barron denied throwing anything at Huerta's truck. Mejia and Sanchez left the premises on foot and Huerta left in his truck.
The parties were out of Barron's sight when he heard the sound of shattering glass. Barron headed toward the sound, which came from behind the store, and saw Mejia and Sanchez across the street and Huerta's truck driving away on Van Buren Street. Barron crossed the street to where Mejia and Sanchez were standing. In a conversation that took place off of Valley Shamrock premises, Mejia and Sanchez told Barron that the driver of the blue truck tried to run over them as they crossed the street and that the driver had threatened to "come back and kill them." Mejia threw a bottle at Huerta's truck and broke a window, although it is not clear whether this happened before or after Huerta attempted to run him down. Barron testified that either Mejia or Sanchez told him to call the police, and that he said he would talk to the store's assistant manager, Juan Rosas, about it. Mejia and Sanchez told Barron they were going home.
Barron returned to the store where he told Rosas about the altercation, stating that the fight did not occur on the premises and that the parties involved had left the premises. Rosas declined to call the police. Barron, too, opted not to call the police, and left the store. Two public telephones were in the Valley Shamrock parking lot, and there was testimony that Mejia had used these telephones on other occasions.
Tirso Huerta testified that after the initial altercation, he returned home, dropped off Tony Garcia, and picked up his brother Raul Huerta. Approximately fifteen minutes later, the Huertas drove by the Valley Shamrock but, according to Tirso Huerta, did not enter the premises. Tirso Huerta testified that his brother shot Mejia in front of a residence on Van Buren Street which was located twenty to thirty yards away from the Valley Shamrock.
Delia Garcia testified that at about 11:30 p.m., she was inside her house across the street from the Valley Shamrock, dozing in her bedroom when she heard a loud noise, like a gunshot. Looking out the window, Garcia testified she saw Mejia coming from behind a trash bin located in the Valley Shamrock parking lot, "jumping the street," and running towards her house. According to Garcia, a car or a truck, also coming from the Valley Shamrock premises, followed Mejia. She saw nothing more because she was running to her front door. As Garcia ran, she heard some "impacts," but did not know what they were. By the time Garcia reached her front door, Mejia was on the ground in her front yard.
Mejia died shortly after midnight from injuries caused by a gunshot wound. The police found an empty bullet casing one and a half to two feet from Valley Shamrock's curb. Raul Huerta, who fired the shot that killed Mejia, pleaded guilty to murder. Tirso Huerta was also convicted of murder.
Appellees, Francisca Vasquez and Esequiel Mejia and the administrator of Mejia's estate, Delia Garcia, instituted this cause of action against appellants, alleging that their actions in refusing to call the police, in instigating the altercation preceding the shooting, and in failing to train and supervise Valley Shamrock employees constituted negligence which proximately caused Mejia's death.
In its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court concluded that Valley Shamrock, Diamond Shamrock, and Nieto owed a duty to Mejia "to protect and safeguard him from threats to his life by invitees, TIRSO HUERTA, and his brother, RAUL HUERTA." The trial court also found that Diamond Shamrock owed a duty based on principles of respondeat superior and that Nieto breached a duty to train and supervise Valley Shamrock employees.
Appellants argue that the trial court erred in rendering judgment against them because they owed Mejia no legal duty as a matter of law and because there was no evidence of negligence. Three elements must be proven to establish liability for negligence: (1) a legal duty owed to the plaintiff by the defendant; (2) a breach of that duty; and (3) damages proximately resulting from the breach. El Chico Corp. v. Poole, 732 S.W.2d 306, 311 (Tex. 1987). Duty is the threshold question, and a plaintiff must prove the existence and violation of a duty to establish liability. Centeq Realty v. Siegler, 899 S.W.2d 195, 197 (Tex. 1995); see Timberwalk Apartments, Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749, 756 (Tex. 1998). A duty is a legally enforceable obligation to conform to a particular standard of conduct. Wheaton Van Lines, Inc. v. Mason, 925 S.W.2d 722, 729 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 1996, writ denied).
Whether a duty exists in a particular case is a question of law for the court to decide from the facts surrounding the occurrence in question. Mitchell v. Missouri--Kansas--Texas R.R., 786 S.W.2d 659, 662 (Tex. 1990). Duty may become a question for the factfinder, but only when essential facts are disputed. Id. After reviewing the findings of fact for legal sufficiency, we conclude that the facts essential to the question of duty are conclusively established in this case, and therefore, duty is a question of law.
Landowners and occupiers of land owe varying duties of care to visitors on their land, depending upon the legal status of the visitor. Motel 6 G.P., Inc. v. Lopez, 929 S.W.2d 1, 3 (Tex. 1996)(citing Rosas v. Buddies Food Store, 518 S.W.2d 534, 536 (Tex. 1975)); Silva v. Spohn Health Sys. Corp., 951 S.W.2d 91, 94 (Tex App.--Corpus Christi 1997), writ denied, 960 S.W.2d 654, 654 (Tex. 1997). An invitee is a person who enters the premises of another at the express or implied invitation of the owner or occupant for their mutual advantage. Rosas, 518 S.W.2d at 536. A premises owner or occupier owes to invitees a duty to use reasonable care to protect them from foreseeable injuries. Boyer v. Scruggs, 806 S.W.2d 941, 944-45 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 1991, no writ). Thus, a landowner has a duty to prevent injuries to invitees if it reasonably appears, or should appear, that they may be injured. Gonzalez v. South Dallas Club, 951 S.W.2d 72, 75 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 1997, no writ).
While generally applicable to the issue of proximate cause rather than duty, the criminal conduct of a third party is usually considered a superseding cause which relieves a negligent actor from liability. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Co., Inc., 690 S.W.2d 546, 549 (Tex. 1985). A landowner usually has no duty to protect invitees from the criminal acts of a third party who is not under the landowner's supervision or control. Exxon v. Tidwell, 867 S.W.2d 19, 21 (Tex. 1993) (citing El Chico Corp., 732 S.W.2d at 313). A landowner or occupier has a duty to protect invitees from third-party criminal conduct on her premises only when the risk of criminal conduct is so great that it is both unreasonable and foreseeable. Timberwalk, 972 S.W.2d at 756; Plowman v. Glen Willows Apts., 978 S.W.2d 612, 617 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 1998, pet. denied)(on rehearing).
We impose a duty on a landowner or occupier of land to protect from the criminal acts of third parties because the landowner is often in the best position to protect against this harm. Exxon, 867 S.W.2d at 21. The landowner has the...
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