AUSTIN - Dawn Hancock, a co-owner of Aces Storage, had no more duty to the late Jeffrey Landrum after the man told her to step away while he finished unloading a portable storage unit, the Texas Supreme Court opined on Friday.
Court records show Cassie Landrum, representing the estate of Jeffrey Landrum, brought a wrongful death lawsuit against Three Aces Storage.
According to the high court’s opinion, the facts are undisputed. Aces Storage is owned by Dawn and Robert Hancock. Though primarily a wrecker company, it also operates a public mini-storage facility and contracts with General Shelters of Texas to sell storage shelters on commission. General Shelters’ employee, Jeffrey Landrum, delivered two 8' x 8' portable storage units by tractor trailer to Aces’ facility. Dawn, then 54, was present, along with two of her grandchildren, but she had never helped with unloading storage units. Landrum proceeded to unload the units on his own.
Landrum’s truck was equipped with a winch, which he did not use, opting to push the storage units by hand to the end of the trailer over rollers mounted on the trailer bed. He then pulled them down ramps extending to the ground. After successfully unloading one unit, the rollers under the second unit stuck. Landrum asked Dawn to help him push the unit “maybe a foot” to the end of the trailer, and Dawn did. At that point, Landrum said he would pull the unit over the end of the trailer and walk it down the ramps with his hands. He told Dawn to step away while he did that in case the unit fell, the opinion states.
Dawn stepped back about 12 feet and turned her attention to her grandchildren. Moments later, she heard the unit crash as it fell off the trailer, crushing Landrum. She could not budge the unit but mounted a nearby excavator, which she had never operated, and managed to use it to lift the unit off Landrum. Despite her best attempts to save him, Landrum died at the scene from his injuries, the opinion states.
According to the opinion, the trial court granted Aces’ motion for summary judgment. A divided court of appeals reversed in part, reasoning that because Dawn “insert[ed] herself in the unloading procedure, [she] undertook a duty to protect Landrum from dangers that an ordinarily prudent person could foresee were a likely result of the situation.”
The Supreme Court found that the appellate court erred and reversed the judgment.
“Assuming that Dawn undertook a duty of care by assisting Landrum when and how he asked, which we need not decide, the undisputed facts establish that any duty ended when he told her to step away while he finished,” the opinion states.
Case No. 21-0652