Prairie View a & M University v. Thomas

PAUL PRESSLER, Justice.

This is an appeal from a damages award of $100,000.

On the night of November 28, 1976, ap-pellee fell into an excavation near a sidewalk on appellant’s campus, where she was a student. She was severely burned by steam pipes and standing water at the bottom of the hole. Appellee brought suit under the Texas Tort Claims Act alleging that appellant, an agency of the State of Texas, was negligent in warning of the existence of the hole or making it safe. The jury returned a verdict finding that appellant breached a duty of ordinary care to appellee with respect to warnings,…