Harris County v. Smith

Chief Justice PHILLIPS delivered the Opinion of the Court joined by Justice HECHT, Justice OWEN, Justice JEFFERSON, and Justice SMITH.

In this case we must decide whether the trial court committed harmful error by submitting a broad-form question on damages that included an element without any evidentiary support. The court of appeals found no harm because the jury’s award could have reasonably been based on other elements of damage for which there was evidentiary support. 66 S.W.3d 326, 336-38. We conclude that the error was harmful because the trial court’s charge error “probably prevented…