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Doctor v. Pardue9/15/2005
ero damages for Lad's past and future physical pain and mental anguish, past and future disfigurement, past and future physical impairment, and past medical expenses; $2.5 million in damages for Lad's future medical expenses; zero damages for Linda's past loss of consortium; and $50,000 for Linda's future loss of consortium. The jury further found that, at the time of the collision, EAA was a charitable organization and that Pardue was acting in good faith and in the course and scope of his duties and functions as a volunteer of a charitable organization. Based on these findings, the trial court applied the limitations set forth in the Act and rendered final judgment that the Doctors recover $500,000 from EAA and take nothing from Pardue.
Choice of Law
In their fifth issue, the Doctors argue that the trial court erred in applying the Act to limit EAA's liability because Wisconsin had the most significant relationship to the charitable immunity issue as EAA is a Wisconsin organization, the acts and omissions underlying the jury's negligence finding occurred in Wisconsin, and the crash and resultant injury occurred in Wisconsin. The Doctors also argue that if the trial court's application of the Act is affirmed by this Court, Texas corporations will lose the protections provided under the Act when sued in foreign states by foreign plaintiffs, even for injuries arising out of charitable services performed in Texas.
The determination of which state's law applies is a question for the court. Torrington Co. v. Stutzman, 46 S.W.3d 829, 848 (Tex. 2000). Therefore, we must review the trial court's decision to apply Texas law to this case de novo. Minn. Mining & Mfg. Co. v. Nishika Ltd., 955 S.W.2d 853, 856 (Tex. 1996); Tracker Marine, L.P. v. Ogle, 108 S.W.3d 349, 352 (Tex. App.---Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, no pet.). Texas courts use the "most significant relationship" test to decide choice of law issues. Torrington Co., 46 S.W.3d at 848; Hughes Wood Prods., Inc. v. Wagner, 18 S.W.3d 202, 205 (Tex. 2000); see also Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws ยงยง 6, 145 (1971). Under that test, a court must consider which state's law has the most significant relationship "to the particular substantive issue to be resolved." Hughes Wood Prods., Inc., 18 S.W.3d at 205.
EAA argues that the trial court correctly applied the Act to reduce the jury's damages award to $500,000 because Texas is the state with the most significant relationship "to the discrete issue of the amount of compensatory damages" recoverable by the Doctors. EAA asserts that Texas has an overriding interest in reducing the liability exposure and limiting compensatory damage awards against charitable organizations, including those not incorporated in Texas, like EAA. In support of its argument, EAA relies on Torrington, in which the plaintiffs argued in favor of application of Texas law on damages, while the defendants argued for application of Michigan law, which did not permit recovery of mental anguish damages, or Nebraska law, which only permitted recovery for pecuniary losses. 46 S.W.3d at 848 n.16.
However, the issue here, unlike the issue presented to the court in Torrington, does not directly relate to the type of damages recoverable by plaintiffs, but instead relates to protections afforded to a certain class of defendants---charities and volunteers, for a certain type of conduct---performance of charitable services. We note that the doctrine of charitable immunity has been treated as an affirmative defense that must be pleaded and proven by parties seeking its application. See Tex. Dep't of Transp. v. Jones, 8 S.W.3d 636, 638 (Tex. 1999) (stating that immunity from liability, like other defense
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