Ace Fire Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Simpkins

In Ace Fire Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Simpkins, 380 S.W.3d 291, 303 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2012, no pet.), the appellant argued that the trial court erred by submitting a producing cause definition and instruction in the jury charge. Id. In deciding that any error was harmless, the court noted that "when facts are undisputed or conclusively established, there is no need to submit those issues to the jury." Id. Because there was no dispute that the deceased's fall was a producing cause of his death, the court explained that "it was unnecessary for the trial court to submit it to the jury." Id. The court concluded that the "trial court's unnecessary inclusion of producing cause did not create a higher or more onerous burden for Ace Fire because producing cause was superfluous language concerning an undisputed fact." Id. at 303-04. The court then cited case law for the proposition that the "submission of undisputed facts does not ordinarily result in reversible error." Id. at 304.