## Facts

- Ted and Christine Owens leased a condominium unit owned by J.A. Dutcher at Eastridge Terrace Condominiums in Dallas County, Texas.
- Dutcher was an absentee owner residing in California and held a 1.572% undivided ownership interest in the condominium’s common elements.
- A fire started in an external light fixture located in a common area.
- The jury found the fire was proximately caused by the lack of an insulating box behind the light fixture in the exterior wall air space.
- The jury found the condominium homeowners’ association knew of the defect and was solely negligent in failing to install an insulating box despite that knowledge.
- The jury awarded $69,150 in damages for the Owenses’ property loss.
- Dutcher was sued on a vicarious liability theory based only on his status as a co-owner of common elements within the condominium regime.

## Issues

1. For tort damages caused by negligence involving condominium common elements, are unit owners jointly and severally liable as co-tenants, or is each owner’s vicarious liability limited to the owner’s pro rata percentage interest?

## Decision

- The Texas Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and affirmed the trial court.
- The Court held that a unit owner’s vicarious liability for tort damages arising from negligence involving common elements is limited to the owner’s pro rata interest in the condominium regime.
- Because Dutcher’s ownership share was 1.572%, the judgment against him was properly limited to $1,087.04 (1.572% of $69,150).

## Legal Principles

- Condominium ownership under the Texas statutory scheme is a single, merged estate consisting of unit ownership plus an undivided percentage interest in common elements.
- For tort claims tied to ownership, use, or maintenance of common elements, a unit owner’s vicarious liability tracks the owner’s fixed percentage interest rather than imposing joint and several liability on all unit owners.
- Traditional tenancy-in-common rules do not control when the condominium statute provides a distinct form of co-ownership with expressly quantified interests and corresponding allocation of burdens.
- Where the homeowners’ association is found solely negligent and the unit owner is not personally negligent, imposing joint and several liability on each owner would conflict with the statutory allocation of rights and burdens tied to percentage ownership.

## Conclusion

The Texas Supreme Court held that, for negligence involving condominium common elements when a unit owner’s liability is purely vicarious, the owner is responsible only for damages in proportion to the owner’s percentage interest, not for the entire loss on a joint and several basis.


Dutcher v. Owens, 647 S.W.2d 948 (Tex. 1983)