Union Pump Co. v. Allbritton

Supreme Court of Texas · 1995 · Torts

TortsNegligenceStrict LiabilityCausationproximate causeproducing causecause in factsubstantial factor

Facts

A pump manufactured by Union Pump caught fire at Texaco Chemical's facility, igniting the surrounding area. About two hours after the fire was extinguished, Allbritton accompanied her supervisor to check a nitrogen purge valve and followed him over an aboveground pipe rack rather than taking a safer route around it. After being told the valve did not need to be blocked, they returned by crossing the pipe rack again, and Allbritton was injured when she hopped or slipped off the wet rack while still wearing firefighting gear. She claimed that but for the pump fire, she would not have been on the wet pipe rack.

Issue

Whether Union Pump's conduct or defective pump was, as a matter of law, too remotely connected to Allbritton's injury to constitute legal causation. More specifically, whether the pump fire was a proximate or producing cause of her injury when she was hurt after the fire had been extinguished and while leaving the area by an unsafe route.

Rule

For both proximate cause and producing cause, causation in fact requires that the defendant's conduct or product be a substantial factor in bringing about the injury. Legal causation is not established if the defendant's conduct or product does no more than furnish the condition that makes the plaintiff's injury possible, and at some point a causal connection may be too remote as a matter of law to support liability.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

At a refinery in Tulsa, a valve manufactured by Red Mesa Flow Systems malfunctioned and caused a blaze that was fully extinguished by noon. About ninety minutes later, Elena Ruiz volunteered to accompany her supervisor to inspect nearby gauges, and on the way back she chose to step over a slick metal trench cover instead of using an open gravel path, then fell and fractured her ankle.

In Elena's negligence and strict liability suit against Red Mesa, which is the strongest argument for Red Mesa on causation?

Explanation. Under the majority opinion, both proximate cause and producing cause require causation in fact, including that the defendant's conduct or product be a substantial factor in bringing about the injury. Legal causation fails when the defendant merely furnishes the condition making the injury possible, especially where the earlier event has ended and the forces it generated have come to rest. Here, the extinguished fire and later voluntary choice to cross a slick obstacle make the connection too remote as a matter of law. (Derived from Union Pump Co. v. Allbritton (n.d.).)