JCW Electronics, Inc. v. Pearl Iriz Garza, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Rolando Domingo Montez, Deceased, and Belinda Leigh Camacho, Individually and as Next Friend of Rolando Kadric Montez, a Minor Child

Summary

The Supreme Court of Texas held that a claim seeking damages for death or personal injury based on breach of an implied warranty under UCC article 2 is a tort claim subject to Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Applying the 1995 version of Chapter 33, the Court concluded that the decedent’s 60 percent responsibility barred recovery. The Court reversed the court of appeals and rendered judgment that the claimants take nothing.

Holdings

1. A breach-of-implied-warranty claim seeking damages for death or personal injury sounds in tort and is a cause of action based on tort subject to Chapter 33's proportionate-responsibility scheme.
2. Article 2 does not contain a comprehensive fault-allocation scheme applicable to the personal-injury implied-warranty claim, so Chapter 33 is not displaced.
3. Because the jury attributed sixty percent responsibility for the death to Montez, the applicable version of Chapter 33 barred the claimants from recovering damages.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a breach-of-implied-warranty claim under article 2 of the Texas Uniform Commercial Code seeking damages for death or personal injury is a cause of action based on tort subject to Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
2. Whether article 2 of the Texas Uniform Commercial Code contains an integrated loss-allocation scheme that displaces Chapter 33's proportionate-responsibility scheme for an implied-warranty claim.
3. Whether the decedent's allocation of sixty percent responsibility barred recovery under the applicable 1995 version of Chapter 33.

Disposition

reversed