Justia Texas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Civil Procedure
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The Supreme Court conditionally granted relief in this mandamus proceeding arising out of a dispute between Property Owners and a Homeowners Association (HOA) regarding enforcement of amended restrictive covenants, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in compelling joinder of the other owners.Property Owners sued the HOA in this case requesting a declaratory judgment that the amended restrictions could not be enforced against them because the required percentage of owners did not approve the amended restrictions. The trial court granted the HOA's motion to abate the claims until Property Owners joined all 700 other owners in the subdivision as parties or face dismissal of their suit. The court of appeals denied Property Owners' ensuing petition for writ of mandamus. The Supreme Court granted a writ of mandamus and ordered the trial court to vacate its order, holding that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in granting the motion to abate and ordering Property Owners to join the other property owners and that Property Owners lacked an adequate remedy by appeal. View "In re Kappmeyer" on Justia Law

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In this "highly unusual" personal jurisdiction dispute the Supreme Court held that Texas courts have specific jurisdiction over German automobile manufacturers based on their intentional post-sale tampering with affected vehicles that were owned, operated, and serviced in Texas.The State and several local governments brought civil actions to enforce state environmental laws against Defendants - German automobile manufacturers that intentionally evaded federal emissions standards by embedding illegal emissions-defeating technology in graded vehicles. At issue was whether the manufacturers' contacts with Texas satisfied the constitutional requisites to exercising specific personal jurisdiction. The trial court ruled that the manufacturers were amenable to specific personal jurisdiction in Texas, but the court of appeals reversed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that where the manufacturers developed the product, controlled the distribution stream that brought the product to Texas, and "called all the shots," the trial court did not err in exercising specific personal jurisdiction over the German manufacturers. View "State v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court held that Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 16.063 did not toll the running of the statute of limitations during Defendant's physical absence from Texas.At issue was whether section 16.063 applies to toll the when the defendant leaves the state for part of the limitations period but remains a Texas resident subject to personal jurisdiction in Texas amenable to service under the Texas long-arm statute. Defendant lived in Texas at the time that she was involved in a car accident with Plaintiff but subsequently moved to Massachusetts to attend school. Defendant, however, returned to Texas during breaks, maintained a Texas mailing address, and kept her Texas driver license. Plaintiff tried serving Defendant at her family's Texas home without success. When Defendant was finally served she successfully moved for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations. Plaintiff appealed, challenging the court's application of Ashley v. Hawkins, 293 S.W.3d 175 (Tex. 2009), to this case. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that if a defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction in Texas and amenable to service, she is not absent from the state under section 16.063. View "Ferrer v. Almanza" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals concluding that neither party had established proper venue in this workers' compensation case, holding that the record adequately demonstrated that venue was mandatory in Dallas County.Tex. Labor Code 410.252(b), a mandatory venue provision governing suits for judicial review of administrative decisions regarding workers' compensation benefits, requires that suit be brought in "the county where the employee resided at the time of the injury." At issue in this case was whether judicial review of the denial of the workers' compensation claim brought by a Texas Tech University offensive lineman who signed a contract to play for the Dallas Cowboys and was injured while attending the team's training camp in California was proper in Travis County, the county to which the insurer sought transfer, or Dallas County. A Dallas County jury found in favor of the plaintiff on his appeal of the denial of his workers' compensation claim. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that neither party had established proper venue. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the plaintiff "resided" in Dallas County at the time of his injury, as required by section 410.252(b), and therefore, venue was mandatory in Dallas County. View "Fortenberry v. Great Divide Insurance Co." on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the district court denying Borrower's motion for a new trial in this appeal arising from a suit on a note and guaranty after Borrower allegedly defaulted on a loan, holding that Borrower was entitled to a new trial.After Lender moved for summary judgment and set the motion for an oral hearing the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the hearing the hearing being canceled. The trial court unilaterally moved the hearing to its submission docket and, without further notice, went forward on the date of the originally scheduled oral hearing. The trial court granted summary judgment to Lender. Borrower moved for a new trial on the grounds that he had not received an amended notice of the hearing date after the original hearing was canceled. The trial court denied the motion, and the court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that because Borrower did not receive the adequate notice as required the trial court erred in granting summary judgment and in refusing to grant a new trial upon Borrower's request. View "Price v. Series 1 - Virage Master LP" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court conditionally granted mandamus relief directing the district court to withdraw its order modifying its underlying judgment, holding that the district court's plenary power had expired before it undertook to revise its final judgment, and therefore the order modifying the judgment was void.The parties in this case, which arose from a construction project dispute, resolved their dispute via arbitration. The arbitrator issued a final arbitration award, and the district court entered a judgment confirming the award. More than one year later, one parties moved to modify the judgment to clarify that it was not a "final judgment" but merely interlocutory. The district court modified the judgment to reflect that it was interlocutory but sua sponte certified the question for interlocutory appeal. The Supreme Court held that the judgment rendered was clearly and unequivocally final. View "Patel v. Nations Renovations, LLC" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court conditionally granted a writ of mandamus in this action arising out of a chemical release at a plant, holding that mandamus is granted to direct the trial court to vacate its orders requiring Kuraray American, Inc. to produce cell-phone data from the employer-issued phones of five employees.In the order at issue, the trial court ordered production of cell-phone data from two of the five employees for the six-week period before the chemical release. As to the remaining employees, the trial court ordered production of cell phone data for the four-month period before the release. The Supreme Court conditionally granted a writ of mandamus and directed the trial court to vacate its orders requiring production of all five employees' cell-phone data, holding that the orders required production of information as to which relevance had not been established and thus were impermissibly overbroad. View "In re Kuraray America, Inc." on Justia Law

Posted in: Civil Procedure
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The Supreme Court reversed the order of the trial court dismissing the claims brought by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) and the claim brought by a group of plaintiffs referred to as the Gutierrez Plaintiffs that the recently enacted laws reapportioning Texas's legislative districts violate Tex. Const. art. III, 26, holding that the trial court erred in part.MALC and the Gutierrez Plaintiffs sued Defendants - various State officials - claiming that the laws at issue violated Article III, Sections 26 and 28. Defendants filed pleas to the jurisdiction, which the trial court largely denied. The Supreme Court reversed in part and remanded the case to the trial court, holding (1) MALC lacked associational standing to pursue its claims; (2) at least one of the Gutierrez Plaintiffs had standing to pursue each claim a proper defendant, but not the State; (3) the Gutierrez Plaintiffs' section 26 was not barred by sovereign immunity, but the section 28 claim was; and (4) the Gutierrez Plaintiffs should have the opportunity to replead their section 26 claim against a proper defendant. View "Abbott v. Mexican American Legislative Caucus" on Justia Law

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Anthony sued Theresa for a divorce. Theresa failed to answer. The court rendered a default judgment granting the divorce and dividing the marital estate. Theresa sought a new trial contending that Anthony’s attorney lied, telling her that the final hearing had not yet been scheduled. On appeal from the denial of her motion, Theresa brought a “sufficiency of the evidence” challenge, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion in the property division. The court of appeals affirmed, finding that Theresa had not preserved that argument.The Texas Supreme Court reversed, holding that failure to file a "Craddock" motion for a new trial in the trial court does not foreclose a party’s ability to raise on appeal an evidentiary challenge to a default property division. The court noted that Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 33.1(d) specifically offers a defaulting party an appellate remedy to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence in a case tried to the bench. A motion under Craddock does not attempt to show an error in the judgment; rather, it seeks to excuse the defaulting party’s failure to answer by showing the Craddock elements. View "Marriage of Williams" on Justia Law

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Blanchard hired Industrial Specialists to provide turnaround services at Blanchard’s refinery in Texas City. Three years into the contract, a fire occurred in a regenerator vessel, injuring several Industrial Specialists employees and one employee of another contractor. The employees sued Blanchard and all of its other contractors but did not sue Industrial. Blanchard demanded a defense and indemnity from Industrial under the parties’ contract. Industrial rejected the demand. Blanchard and the other contractors settled all the employees’ claims for $104 million. Blanchard paid $86 million, then filed suit, seeking to enforce the indemnity provision.The trial court denied competing summary-judgment motions without explaining its reasons but granted Industrial's unopposed motion to pursue a permissive interlocutory appeal under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 51.014(d). The court of appeals denied the petition in 2019, stating that it “fail[ed] to establish each requirement” for a permissive appeal. The Texas Supreme Court affirmed. The court of appeals did not abuse its discretion by refusing to accept this permissive interlocutory appeal or by failing to more thoroughly explain its reasons. The final-judgment rule may entail “inevitable inefficiencies,” and permissive appeals may reduce those inefficiencies, but the permissive-appeal process should not “morph into an alternative process for direct appeals to this Court, particularly from orders denying summary-judgment motions.” View "Industrial Specialists, LLC, v. Blanchard Refining Company LLC" on Justia Law

Posted in: Civil Procedure