Newsroom
A Note on SCOTX’s SB 8 Decision
With all of the national media attention focused on the Texas Supreme Court’s response to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ certified question regarding SB 8, we feel it is important to note exactly what the Court actually did. When the Court accepts a...
SCOTX Hands Down Two Key Premises Liability Decisions
On Friday the Texas Supreme Court issued two important premises liability decisions, the first adding to the jurisprudence surrounding Chapter 95, TPCR, critical piece of the 1995 tort reform package, and the second reaffirming a prior decision of the Court...
TCPA Does Not Shield Paralegal from Allegations She Stole $250K from Employer and Tried to Poison Him*
In a case with a fact pattern that could easily have been ripped from streaming television programming, the Austin Court of Appeals has affirmed a Hays County district court’s denial of a TCPA motion to dismiss. In Ashley Syzmonek and Paul Syzmonek v. Arturo Guzman...
Waco Court of Appeals Affirms Trial Court Denial of TCPA Motion to Dismiss
The Waco Court of Appeals has held that an employer’s lawsuit against a former employee for misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference with continuing and prospective business relations, and conversion falls within the “commercial speech” exemption of...
Texarkana Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment for Insured in Statutory Penalty Case
In State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. & State Farm County Mutual Ins. Co. of Texas v. Greg Rumbaugh(No. 06-21-00065-CV), the Texarkana Court of Appeals held that a 12% statutory penalty imposed by §1952.157, Insurance Code, on an insurer for failing to pay...
Dallas Court of Appeals Oks Class Action Against USAA
In a somewhat puzzling case, the Dallas Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court order certifying a class action against USAA under Rule 42, TRCP. We say “puzzling” because the court of appeals’ opinion does not refer to the law governing USAA’s standard...
SCOTX to Fifth Circuit: “Employee” Means “Employee” in Anti-Indemnity Act
The Texas Supreme Court has answered in the negative to a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concerning the scope of the “employee exception” to application of the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act (§§151.101, et seq. or TAIA). The...
SCOTX Reverses San Antonio Court of Appeals in Two Governmental Immunity Cases
In two cases concerning waiver of governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act, the Texas Supreme Court has held that the TTCA does not waive the liability of a city for injuries arising from the use of a law enforcement vehicle. The decision reverses the...
SCOTX Fields Another Certified Question from U.S. Fifth Circuit Concerning Implied Cause of Action under Insurance Code
The U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has certified yet another unsettled question of Texas law to the Texas Supreme Court. This is a big one that should have the attention of every employer that offers employee health plans and every entity that provides...
Fifth Circuit to SCOTX: Can an Exempt Corporation Sell Its Package Store Permit to a Non-Exempt Corporation?
Several times in the past year the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Texas Supreme Court for its opinion on a matter of first impression or significant ambiguity in Texas law. The procedure is called a “certified question,” and a federal appellate...
SCOTX Reverses Austin Court of Appeals in Case Involving Judicial Review of Grant of TCEQ Permit
The Texas Supreme Court has reversed a decision by the Austin Court of Appeals in Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Dos Republícas Coal Partnership v. Maverick County, City of Eagle Pass, Environmental Defense Fund, Walter Herring, Ernesto Ibarra,...
Austin Court of Appeals Greenlights Appraisal District Challenge to ARB Decision Reducing Value of Taxpayer’s Landfill
The Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) won a victory in the Third Court of Appeals in its effort to reverse the appraisal review board’s decision to reduce the 2019 appraised value of a Texas Disposal Systems’ landfill from $21.2 million to $2.8 million. In...