HOUSTON – An appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision in a negligence lawsuit regarding a BMW fire where the driver was seriously injured.
The Court of Appeals for the 1st District of Texas heard the appeal by Rochan Turner, who claims that repairs done on his BMW vehicle by Left Gate Property Holdings, doing business as Texas Direct Auto, and McCall-SB Inc., doing business as Advantage BMW of ClearLake, were the cause behind the vehicle fire that left him recovering in the hospital for more than a month.
Turner sued the companies claiming their negligence led to the car fire. The 333rd District Court of Harris County granted the defendants' no-evidence, summary judgment motions. Turner appealed and the Appeals Court affirmed the lower court's decision.
“Turner argues that the trial court erred by granting appellees’ take-nothing summary judgment because he presented evidence of negligence through the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur,” Justice Jennifer Caughey wrote in the Nov. 29 court decision. "We disagree."
“In their no-evidence motions for summary judgment, Texas Direct and Advantage asserted that there was no evidence of duty, breach or causation,” Caughey wrote.
The Appeals Court stated in its decision that for Turner’s argument to prevail he would need to prove: "an accident of this character does not ordinarily occur in the absence of negligence and the instrument that caused the accident was under the exclusive management and control of the defendant."
Caughey wrote in the court decision that Turner did not prove his case.
“In response to the no-evidence motion for summary judgment, Turner produced invoices from Texas Direct and Advantage as well as his affidavit. But none of this evidence shows (or even suggests) that the instrumentality that caused the fire was under the sole control of either defendant or that they had joint control over any such instrumentality,” Caughey wrote.
“No evidence connects any work performed by Texas Direct or Advantage to the fire. And no evidence shows that Texas Direct and Advantage had joint control of the instrumentality that caused the injury or that either had sole control of that Instrumentality,” Caughey added.