Justice WILLETT delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice GREEN, Justice JOHNSON, Justice GUZMAN, and Justice DEVINE joined. In this legal-malpractice case, the clients sued their former attorneys, complaining the attorneys had obtained an inadequate settlement. The trial court granted summary judgment for the attorneys, and the court of appeals affirmed. We affirm the court of appeals' judgment. I. Background In March 2005, an explosion occurred at the...
PER CURIAM. In this eminent-domain case, a jury determined that the City of Laredo's condemnation was not for an authorized public use and awarded attorney's fees and expenses to the property owner under Texas Property Code 21.019(c). This fee-shifting statute authorizes the trial court to "make an allowance to the property owner for reasonable and necessary fees" and expenses to the judgment date, when condemnation is denied. The City appealed the award, complaining about deficiencies in...
Chief Justice JEFFERSON delivered the opinion of the Court. We have recently held that a trial court must explain with reasonable specificity why it has set aside a jury verdict and granted anew trial. 1 Without such an explanation, parties in the case can only speculate about why the court ostensibly circumvented a critical constitutional right. The parties — and the public — are entitled to know why the trial court believes an injustice would occur if the jury's verdict were to stand. In...
Justice LEHRMANN announced the Court's decision and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, III, V, and VII, in which Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, Justice GUZMAN, and Justice BOYD joined, and delivered an opinion with respect to Parts IV and VI, in which Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, and Justice BOYD joined. "If a mediated settlement agreement meets [certain requirements], a party is entitled to judgment on the mediated settlement agreement notwithstanding ......
Justice DEVINE delivered the opinion of the Court. This case is a companion to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. City of Waco, 413 S.W.3d 409 , 2013 WL 4493018 (Tex.2013). In that case, we concluded that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality did not abuse its discretion in denying a contested case hearing to an interested party, who claimed a right to such a hearing under the Texas Water Code. As it did in City of Waco, the court of appeals concludes in this case that...
Justice LEHRMANN delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice HECHT, Justice GREEN, and Justice DEVINE joined. Today we determine how various provisions of the Texas Tort Claims Act's [TTCA] election-of-remedies statute interact with one another. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE 101.106. The statute encourages, and in effect mandates, plaintiffs to pursue lawsuits against governmental units rather than their employees when the suit is based on the employee's...
PER CURIAM. The sole question in this case is whether a settlement agreement that includes all the terms necessary for the contract's enforcement is an enforceable contract as a matter of law, even if some of its terms seem to imply that the parties contemplate forming an additional contract in the future. We hold that such a contract is enforceable. Respondents Baker's Campground, Inc. and Kelli and Kourtnie Graves (collectively Baker's Campground) are successors-in-interest to 380 acres of...
Justice GUZMAN delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice HECHT, Justice GREEN, Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, and Justice DEVINE joined. In Texas West Oaks Hospital, LP v. Williams, we held that a mental health professional employee's claims against his employer, a mental health hospital, alleging inadequate security and training were health care liability claims (HCLC) based on the 2003 amendments to the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA). 1 Here, we...
PER CURIAM. Section 51.014(a)(8) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code permits an interlocutory appeal of an order denying a plea to the jurisdiction by a governmental unit. Pursuant to that statute, Dallas County appealed the denial of a plea in which it asserted governmental immunity from claims brought under the Texas Whistleblower Act. See TEX. GOV'T.CODE 554.0035. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's denial of the plea, declining to consider additional grounds...
Justice DEVINE delivered the opinion of the Court. Dairies that feed large numbers of cattle for extended periods in confined areas are termed "concentrated animal feeding operations" (CAFOs). Because these operations often impact their environment, they generally must obtain water-quality permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (the "TCEQ" or "Commission"). These permits are designed to control the waste produced at such facilities and through regulation prevent it from...
The Tim Cole Act 1 entitles a person who has been wrongfully imprisoned to compensation from the State, but payments terminate "if, after the date the person becomes eligible for compensation..., the person is convicted of a crime punishable as a felony." 2 The issue in this case is whether the Act requires payments to a felon who remains incarcerated for a conviction that occurred before he became eligible for compensation. We conclude it does not and therefore deny relief. Michael N....
Justice HECHT delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice GREEN, Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, Justice GUZMAN, Justice LEHRMANN, and Justice DEVINE joined. Having determined that homes built with an exterior insulation and finish system ("EIFS") suffer serious water damage that worsens over time, a homebuilder undertook to remove the product from all the homes it had built and replace it with conventional stucco. The homebuilder's insurers refused to...
PER CURIAM. This case presents an issue of summary judgment procedure. John Plunkett sued Justin Nall, Robert Nall, Olga Nall, and Justin Kowrach for personal injuries suffered at a New Year's Eve party at the Nalls' residence. Plunkett pled causes of action against the Nalls for negligence based on an undertaking theory and for premises liability. The Nalls moved for summary judgment as to Plunkett's negligence claim on the ground that they owed no duty to Plunkett under the facts pled in his...
Justice GREEN delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice JOHNSON, Justice WILLETT, and Justice DEVINE joined; in which Justice HECHT and Justice LEHRMANN joined as to Parts I and II.A; and in which Justice GUZMAN and Justice BOYD joined as to Parts I and II.B. This appeal involves a pay dispute between the City of Houston and three retired fire fighters previously employed by the Houston Fire Department (HFD). The retired fire fighters sued the City to...
Justice LEHRMANN delivered the opinion of the Court. In this interlocutory appeal, we are once again called upon to interpret and apply the Texas Medical Liability Act's (TMLA) expert-report requirement, contained in section 74.351 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. With respect to health care liability claims governed by the TMLA, a claimant is generally required to serve an expert report on each physician or health care provider against whom such a claim is asserted no later than...
Justice LEHRMANN delivered the opinion of the Court. For the second time, we address issues of class certification in this action involving alleged underpayment of oil and gas royalties. In 2008, we reviewed the trial court's certification of three subclasses of royalty owners, each asserting a single breach-of-lease claim. Bowden v. Phillips Petrol. Co., 247 S.W.3d 690 (Tex.2008). After the court of appeals reversed the certification order as to all three subclasses, we affirmed in part...
Justice JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the Court. This case involves the question of whether a mineral lessee failed to accommodate an existing use of the surface when the lessee drilled a gas well. Claiming that the lessee did not accommodate his existing cattle operation, the surface owner sought an injunction requiring the well to be moved. The trial court granted summary judgment for the mineral lessee and the court of appeals affirmed. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. I....
PER CURIAM. In this case, Stephen Barth, a professor at the University of Houston, sued the University under the Texas Whistleblower Act for retaliation allegedly stemming from Barth's reports that his supervisor violated internal administrative policies located in the University's System Administrative Memorandum (SAM) and other state civil and criminal law. The court of appeals held that the trial court had subject-matter jurisdiction over Barth's claim because the SAM's administrative...
Justice BOYD delivered the opinion of the Court. When the life cycle of a judgment extends beyond an initial appeal, courts often face unique or unsettled jurisdictional and procedural issues. This case presents three of those issues; namely, (1) whether the court of appeals had jurisdiction to review the judgment that the trial court entered after this Court remanded the case to the trial court for entry of judgment; (2) whether postjudgment interest should be calculated from the date of the...
Justice WILLETT delivered the opinion of the Court. This tax-refund case concerns the Tax Code's sale-for-resale exemption, which grants purchasers of taxable goods and services a sales-tax exemption if they resell the items (since the ultimate purchaser will pay any tax due). Here, a government contractor seeks sales-tax refunds for purchases used to administer federal health-insurance programs. The question is one of scope: What categories of purchases qualify for the exemption Applying...
