Justia Texas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Respondent, on behalf of the estate of her deceased sister, filed suit against petitioner, a nursing home, alleging that while the sister was being cared for by petitioner, she was bitten by a brown recluse spider and died. At issue was whether the claims were healthcare liability claims that required an expert report to be served. The court held that the claims fell within the statutory definition of a health care liability claim and therefore, the statute required the suit to be dismissed unless respondent timely filed an expert report. Accordingly, the court granted the petition for review and reversed and remanded. View "Omaha Healthcare Center, LLC v. Johnson" on Justia Law

Petitioner sued respondent for injuries he sustained when the car he was driving collided with respondent's minivan as she was pulling out of a grocery store parking lot. At issue was whether section 41.0105 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code precluded evidence or recovery of expenses that neither the claimant nor anyone acting on is behalf would ultimately be liable for paying. The court held that only evidence of recoverable medical expenses was admissible at trial. The court also held that the collateral source rule continued to apply to such expenses and the jury should not be told that they would be covered in whole or in part by insurance. Nor should the jury be told that a health care provider adjusted its charges because of insurance. Accordingly, section 41.0105 limited recovery and consequently, the evidence at trial, to expenses that the provider had a legal right to be paid. View "Haygood v. Garza de Escabedo" on Justia Law

This case stemmed from a commercial bus driver's diagnosis of tuberculosis and subsequent transmission of the disease to passengers. At issue was whether the transmission of a communicable disease from the driver of a motor vehicle to a passenger was a covered loss under a business auto policy, which afforded coverage for accidental bodily injuries resulting from the vehicle's use. The court held that because communicable diseases were not an insured risk under the policy at issue, the court reversed the judgment and rendered judgment for the insurance carrier. View "Lancer Ins. Co. v. Holiday Tours, et al." on Justia Law

Appellant, an African-American resident of Texas, sued appellees alleging that their credit-scoring systems employed several undisclosed factors which resulted in disparate impacts for minorities and violated the federal Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), 42 U.S.C. 3601, 3619. At issue, in a certified question, was whether Texas law permitted an insurance company to price insurance by using a credit-score factor that had a racially disparate impact that, were it not for the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. 1012(b), would violate the FHA, absent a legally sufficient nondiscriminatory reason, or would using such a credit-score factor violate Texas Insurance Code ("Code") sections 544.002(a), 559.051, 559.052, or some other provision of Texas law. The court answered the certified question by holding that Texas law did not prohibit an insurer from using race-neutral factors in credit-scoring to price insurance, even if doing so created a racially disparate impact.

Grubbs Infinity ("Grubbs"), the insured, sued Universal Underwriters of Texas Insurance Company ("Universal") for underpayment of its insurance policy claim after Grubbs suffered hail damage to buildings on its property. At issue was whether the party demanding appraisal had waived its right to insist on the contractual procedure when the parties disagreed, but neither sought appraisal until one had filed suit. The court conditionally granted Universal's petition for writ of mandamus and directed the trial court to grant Universal's motion to compel appraisal where Universal had not waived its appraisal right and where Grubbs failed to demonstrate a showing of prejudice.