Justia Texas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Jeanne Ransom sued dentist Jeanine Eaton, alleging that Eaton extracted two teeth in addition to the nine agreed on in a treatment plan. Ransom served Eaton with the required pre-suit notice and included an export report, but Ransom never re-served the expert report after filing suit. After the passage of 120 days, Eaton moved to dismiss Ransom’s suit on the grounds that Ransom failed to serve her with an expert report within the 120-day deadline set forth in the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA). The trial court granted the motion to dismiss. The court of appeals affirmed. While Ransom’s petition for review was pending, the Supreme Court decided Hebner v. Reddy. The Supreme Court reversed in the instant case, holding (1) the holding in Hebner compelled the conclusion that Ransom satisfied the TMLA’s expert-report service requirement when she served Eaton with a report concurrent with pre-suit notice; and (2) Eaton waived any objection to the sufficiency of Ransom’s expert report by failing to raise any objection within twenty-one days after filing her original answer. View "Ransom v. Eaton" on Justia Law

Rigney Construction & Development, LLC contracted with Red Dot Building System, Inc. for a portion of a school construction project. A dispute arose as to the scope of the work Red Dot was to perform under the contract. Red Dot later sued Rigney in Henderson County district court for an unpaid invoice. Thereafter, Rigney sued Red Dot in Hidalgo County. All of the claims related to the contract with Red Dot. Red Dot asked the Hidalgo County court to transfer the suit to Henderson County or abate the suit. The Hidalgo County court denied the motions to transfer and abate. Both courts set their cases for trial. Red Dot sought mandamus relief and, alternatively, asked the Supreme Court to instruct the Hidalgo County court to transfer its case to Henderson County or to abate the Hidalgo County suit. The Supreme Court granted mandamus relief insofar as Red Dot asked the Court to order the Hidalgo County court to transfer the case to Henderson County, holding that Hidalgo County court should have abated the suit pending in that court because Henderson County court acquired dominant jurisdiction. View "In re Red Dot Building System, Inc." on Justia Law

In 2003, the county court appointed Beatriz Burton guardian of the person and estate of Ryan Keith Tonner, who was incapacitated due to an intellectual disability. Burton died in 2007. In 2012, guardianship was transferred to Lubbock County. One month later, Disability Rights Texas filed an application on Tonner’s behalf to fully or partially restore his capacity. The trial court dismissed the application, concluding that Tonner’s capacity was not restored, and that although his named guardian had died, her powers and duties “will remain unchanged.” The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed on other grounds, holding that the lower courts could not determine whether Tonner’s capacity should be partly restored without appointing a successor guardian, which Tonner did not seek. View "In re Guardianship of Ryan Keith Tonner" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, who owned insurance policies with National Lloyds Insurance Company, filed independent lawsuits against National Lloyds, claiming they were underpaid on claims following two hail storms in Hidalgo County. The Multidistrict Litigation Panel of Texas (MDL Panel) granted the motions of other insurance carriers seeking to transfer cases arising from the hail storms to a pretrial court and subsequently transferred Plaintiffs’ claims to the same pretrial court. At issue in this case was National Lloyd’s failure to produce certain information requested by Plaintiffs. The pretrial court entered an order compelling National Lloyds to produce six categories of documents, including “management reports and emails,” and assessed sanctions for attorney’s fees. National Lloyds sought mandamus relief, asserting that the compelled discovery was overbroad. The Supreme Court conditionally granted mandamus relief, holding (1) the pretrial court abused its discretion in compelling production of the management reports and emails; and (2) because the pretrial court’s order was overboard as the management reports and emails, but because National Lloyds failed to produce five other categories of discovery, the sanctions award must be reevaluated. View "In re National Lloyds Insurance Co." on Justia Law

At issue in this case was the interpretation a land description in an option contract between Landowners and an oil and gas company (Company). Landowners argued that the description excluded a 400-acre tract. Company argued that the description included the 400-acre tract. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Company. The court of appeals reversed and remanded, concluding that the option contract was ambiguous and that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment. The Supreme Court affirmed on different grounds, holding that Landowners’ interpretation of the contract was the only reasonable interpretation, and therefore, the court of appeals erred in holding that the contract was ambiguous. Remanded. View "North Shore Energy, L.L.C. v. Harkins" on Justia Law

Southwest Royalties, Inc, an oil and gas exploration company, filed a tax refund claim with the Comptroller asserting that its purchases of casing, tubing, other well equipment, and associated services were exempt from sales taxes under a statutory exemption. The Comptroller denied relief. In response, Southwest sued the Comptroller and the Attorney General. After a bench trial, the trial court rendered judgment for the State, concluding that Southwest failed to meet its burden of proving the exemption applied. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Southwest was not entitled an exemption from paying sales taxes on purchases of the equipment. View "Southwest Royalties, Inc. v. Hegar" on Justia Law

The City of Corsicana, Navarro County, and Navarro College (collectively, Navarro) filed a Tex. R. Civ. P. 202 petition in the county court of Navarro County to investigate a potential tortious interference claim against the City of Dallas. The county court denied Dallas’s immunity-based plea to the jurisdiction, granted Navarro’s Rule 202 petition, and authorized depositions. The Supreme Court granted mandamus relief conditionally vacating the trial court’s order and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to determine its jurisdiction over the claim Navarro sought to investigate. Remanded for the county court to vacate its order authorizing depositions and to first determine its jurisdiction in accordance with the standards discussed in this opinion. View "In re City of Dallas" on Justia Law

Norma Heredia filed a personal injury claim against Wal-Mart Stores, Texas. The trial court granted Wal-Mart’s motion for no-evidence summary judgment. Heredia then filed a notice of appeal and an affidavit of indigence in the trial court. No challenge to Heredia’s affidavit was filed within the following ten days, but the court of appeals issued a sua sponte order allowing any interested parties to file a challenge to Heredia’s affidavit in the ten days following the date of that order. Three days later, the court reporter filed a challenge to Heredia’s affidavit. Pursuant to the court of appeals’ order, the trial court set a hearing to determine Heredia’s indigence. Heredia filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court conditionally granted the writ and directed the court of appeals to vacate its order and to allow Heredia to proceed with her appeal without payment of costs, holding that the procedural rules do not permit any out-of-time challenges, regardless of the reason for delay. View "In re Norma Heredia" on Justia Law

Homeowners’ association River Oaks Property Owners, Inc. (ROPO) sued homeowner Carolyn Keenan seeking an injunction requiring Keenan to remove improvements that allegedly violated a limit on impervious cover. The limit was found in 2006 “Amended Restrictions” that purported to amend the neighborhood’s deed restrictions. Keenan counterclaimed, asserting that the Amendment Restrictions were unenforceable because an insufficient number of homeowners had voted for them. Keenan moved to compel production of the homeowner ballots on the Amended Restrictions after ROPO asserted that the ballots were confidential and privileged voting records. The trial court refused to order production of the ballots but stated that Keenan’s counsel could review the ballots without disclosing the contents "to anyone else." Keenan sought mandamus relief. The court of appeals denied relief. The Supreme Court disagreed and conditionally granted relief, holding that Keenan was entitled to copy the ballots and disclose them for purposes of discovery, expert analysis, trial preparation, and trial. View "In re Carolyn Frost Keenan" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, the parents of Matthew Sanchez, who died from a drug overdose, filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Dallas, alleging that a condition of the City’s telephone system proximately caused their son’s death by preventing him from receiving potentially life-saving medical care. The City filed a Tex. R. Civ. P. 91a motion to dismiss asserting governmental immunity from suit and arguing that the allegations in the complaint did not invoke a waiver of governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act. The trial court denied the City’s motion to dismiss as to the allegation that the City’s 9-1-1 phone system failed or malfunctioned. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that governmental immunity was not waived under the Tort Claims Act and dismissal was required because the pleadings did not establish that a defect in the 9-1-1 telephone system was a proximate cause of Sanchez’s death. View "City of Dallas v. Sanchez" on Justia Law