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State v. Gonzalez6/29/2000
Petition for review granted August 23, 2001.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, BY AND THROUGH THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, APPELLANTS,
v.
MARIA C. GONZALEZ, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF HILDA MARTINEZ, DECEASED, ET AL., APPELLEES.
Before Justices Dorsey, Hinojosa, and Rodriguez
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Justice Dorsey
On appeal from the 332nd District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas.
OPINION
In February of 1987, Maria Alicia Gonzalez was driving on FM 3072 with her sister, niece and her children. She failed to stop at an intersection and crashed into another vehicle. All occupants of Gonzalez' vehicle, save one, died at the scene.
The survivors sued the State of Texas, through its Department of Transportation, alleging it was negligent in failing to maintain the stop sign at the intersection where the accident occurred. The jury found the State negligent, and the court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. The State appeals by six points of error.
The intersection of Texas FM 3072 and FM 2557 in Hidalgo County is normally controlled by stop signs on FM 3072. Traffic traveling east and west on FM 3072 must yield right-of-way to the north-south traffic on FM 2557. On the southwest corner of the intersection, a four to five feet high levee parallels FM 3072, creating a visual barrier preventing drivers traveling east or north into the intersection from seeing one another until about thirty feet from the intersection. On February 8, 1987, Gonzalez drove her two sons, Anthony and Jonathan Rincones, her sister, Hilda Martinez, and her niece, Irene Rodriguez, on a family outing eastbound on FM 3072. They entered the intersection traveling approximately seventy miles per hour in mid-afternoon and collided with a van driven by Stanley Brock, who was northbound on FM 2557. The stop sign controlling east-bound traffic had been knocked down and was not visible to Gonzalez. There is no evidence she tried to slow her car before impact. Gonzalez, her sister, niece, and son Anthony, died at the scene. Her son, Jonathan, and Brock and his passenger suffered minor injuries.
The evidence was that Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) had recent notice the intersection stop signs were the focus of repeated vandalism: on January 20, DOT employees discovered and repaired a downed stop sign without filing a report; on January 24, DOT employees discovered, reported, and repaired both downed signs; on January 31, again both signs were discovered and repaired by DOT employees, but without report; on February 2 or 3, both signs were again reinstalled with no report; on February 5, both signs were found down and reinstalled, with a report; on February 6, at least one of the signs was reinstalled and reported. On six occasions over a seventeen-day period, stop signs were found down or missing at the intersection; however, only four reports document the incidents.
DOT Assistant Maintenance Supervisor Raul Martinez ordered regular inspections of the intersection following the first incident in February. DOT also notified the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department of the suspected vandalism and requested assistance in monitoring the intersection. The sheriff's department dispatcher prepared an "Immediate Extra Patrol" order for increased surveillance of the intersection.
On Saturday, February 7, DOT employee Jose Jackson observed the signs were all in place. Motorist Catherine Pearson testified she noticed the signs were down at 10:30 on the
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