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City of Brownsville v. Alvarado3/30/1995
Argued Nov. 15, 1994
Rehearing Overruled June 8, 1995.
Following inmate's suicide in city jail, his parents brought wrongful death and survival action against city, claiming that its negligence proximately caused inmate's death. The 103rd District Court, Cameron County, Menton J. Murray, Jr., J., entered judgment on jury verdict in favor of city, and parents appealed. The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals, 865 S.W.2d 148, reversed and remanded for new trial. On application for writ of error, the Supreme Court, Cornyn, J., held that: (1) submission of question in jury charge asking whether inmate's negligence or intentional conduct proximately caused his own death was not harmful error; (2) trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding evidence concerning city's decision to use certain intake forms and perform cell checks at particular intervals and recommendations made to city following earlier suicide attempt, as it pertained largely to city's discretionary formulation of jail policy; and (3) trial court's exclusion of other evidence did not constitute reversible error since it could not reasonably be said that verdict probably would have been different had it been admitted.
Judgment of Court of Appeals reversed; judgment rendered.
CORNYN, Justice, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all JUSTICES join.
Ricardo Serna Alvarado committed suicide in the Brownsville City Jail by hanging himself with a blanket from the bars of his cell. His parents, Victor and Olga Alvarado, brought this wrongful death and survival action against the City, claiming that the City's negligence proximately caused Ricardo's death. Although the jury failed to find that any negligence on the part of the City caused Ricardo's death, the court of appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court had improperly excluded all the evidence relating to certain discrete grounds of negligence and that the trial court had confused and misled the jury by submitting questions on Ricardo's own negligence. 865 S.W.2d 148. Because we conclude that the error, if any, committed by the trial court was harmless, see Tex-R.App.P. 184(b), we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment that the Alvarados take nothing.
On November 10, 1988, nineteen-year old Ricardo was arrested for driving while intoxicated after hitting a parked car. He was booked at the Brownsville City Jail at 2:32 p.m. Ricardo was alone in the detoxification cell when Jailers Perez and Elizondo arrived for their afternoon shift. Although the jailers presented differing testimony about Ricardo's behavior during the time he remained in the cell, neither witnessed any indication that Ricardo was upset, emotional, violent, or suicidal. Ricardo's friends who had been with him earlier testified that he had been disturbed by the refusal of a schoolmate to accept flowers he had bought for her that day.
The City of Brownsville Jail Procedures Manual requires jailers to check prisoners every twenty minutes, and to check more frequently prisoners who are potentially suicidal or violent. Jailer Perez conducted the last cell check at which Ricardo was seen alive at 6:50 p.m. A few minutes after that check, two new people were brought in for booking. During the booking procedure, the jailers' view of Ricardo's cell was obstructed by the door to the cell block. At 7:20 p.m., as Perez was taking one of the new prisoners to a cell, he discovered Ricardo hanging from the cell bars. Perez checked Ricardo's pulse and pupils and found no signs of life, and did not attempt to resuscitate Ricardo while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. The jailers justified th
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