Southwestern Bell Telephone Company v. DeLanney

Supreme Court of Texas

809 S.W. 2d 493 (1991)

Relevant factsFree

Southwestern Bell Telephone (defendant) automatically canceled Eugene DeLanney's (plaintiff) Yellow Pages advertisement after his wife asked the company to disconnect an unrelated phone line the ad happened to be linked to; DeLanney sued for negligence, and a jury awarded him damages for lost profits, which the trial court partially reduced. Southwestern Bell appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed, holding the company's contractual failure supported recovery in both tort and contract; the Texas Supreme Court granted review.

IssueFree

Whether there is a basis for recovery in tort if the injury complained of is solely the economic loss stemming from a breach of contract.

Holding & reasoning

The court resolved the question by applying the controlling rule to the facts and explaining precisely why the outcome followed. Its reasoning ties the doctrine to the record so you can reproduce the analysis on an exam.

Procedural history, concurrence & dissent

This section traces the case from the trial court through appeal and lays out how each opinion lands. Separate writings sharpen the majority's limits and flag the arguments most likely to resurface in class.

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