OPINION Opinion by Justice O'Neill Appellee C'Tara Ingram brought suit against Guadalupe Moreno for injuries and damages she sustained as the result of an automobile collision. The jury answered questions in favor of Ingram, and the trial court rendered judgment on the jury's verdict. In one issue, Moreno contends the trial court erred by allowing a chiropractor to testify as to the necessity of Ingram's non-chiropractic medical treatment. Because we agree that the chiropractor was not...
OPINION BOB McCOY , JUSTICE . In this accelerated interlocutory appeal, Appellant Harry Bizios complains of the trial court's injunction requiring him to obtain permits from and allow building inspections by Appellee the Town of Lakewood Village pursuant to the Town's ordinances. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. 51.014(a)(4) (West Supp.2014). In his first of three issues, Bizios contends that the Town, as a Type-A general-law municipality with approximately 620 inhabitants, does not...
OPINION Opinion by: Patricia O. Alvarez , Justice Appellee Melissa Hernandez filed a motion for en banc reconsideration challenging this court's opinion issued on August 29, 2014. After fully considering Hernandez's motion and Appellant Andres Bueno's response, the panel, acting sua sponte, withdraws its opinion and judgment issued on August 29, 2014, and substitutes this opinion and judgment in their stead. Hernandez filed a suit alleging that while receiving care in the emergency...
OPINION Bob Pemberton , Justice . We again confront the recurrent question of whether an "informal" written agency pronouncement regarding law or policy constitutes a "rule" as the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) 1 defines that term. 2 In this case, a professional regulatory agency sent a letter to the primary statewide association representing the regulated population warning that certain practices violated agency rules and would lead to disciplinary action. The agency's...
OPINION Opinion by: Rebeca C. Martinez , Justice . Homeowner Dora Gulley appeals the trial court's judgment in favor of State Farm Lloyds in her lawsuit alleging that the foundation movement at her residence was caused by plumbing leaks, and therefore the interior damage was covered under the water damage endorsement to her homeowners policy. We overrule Gulley's issues on appeal and affirm the trial court's judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In 1999, approximately three years...
OPINION ON REHEARING Evelyn V. Keyes , Justice Appellee, Wade Brady, sued appellants, Carter Publications, Inc. d/b/a The West Fort Bend Star ("The Star") and LeaAnne Klentzman, a reporter for The Star, alleging that they defamed him in a January 15, 2003 article ("the Article"). Based on the jury's verdict in Wade's favor, the trial court signed its final judgment awarding him actual and exemplary damages. In nine issues, Klentzman and The Star argue that: (1) the trial court erred by...
OPINION Bob Pemberton , Justice . This appeal presents questions of first impression regarding the availability of occupational-disability retirement benefits for Texas state employees following 2003 amendments that significantly limited the statutory definition of an "occupational disability." As amended, the definition requires that an "occupational disability" "result[] ... solely from an extremely dangerous risk of severe physical or mental trauma ... that is not common to the public...
OPINION Opinion by: Patricia O. Alvarez , Justice . This case stems from competing motions for partial summary judgment on claims that a real estate note was improperly accelerated. On September 3, 2010, Susan Chacon sold approximately 823 acres of real property to Appellee/Cross-Appellant Double Knobs Mountain Ranch. The transaction was completed with a Note, Deed of Trust, and Warranty Deed with Vendor's Lien. On August 27, 2012, Appellant/Cross-Appellee Schuhardt Consulting Profit...
OPINION Scott K. Field , Justice . We withdraw our opinion and judgment dated October 10, 2014, and substitute the following in their place. We overrule the appellee's motion for rehearing. Appellant George Thurman Lauret sued appellee Meritage Homes of Texas, LLC for, among other things, violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (the DTPA) in connection with Meritage Homes's sale of residential property to Lauret. See Tex. Bus. & Com.Code 17.46. The jury found in favor...
OPINION Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss . In April 2013, Overton police officers, Brad Loden and Mary Williams, responding to the scene of a reported domestic disturbance, encountered James Earl Piland, who smelled of alcohol and was acting erratically. Loden testified that, while he was attempting to handcuff Piland to assure officer safety, Piland punched him in the shoulder, causing him pain. Piland appeals the resulting conviction for assault on a public servant, 1 claiming a...
OPINION J. Brett Busby , Justice . Appellant Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Company appeals from a final judgment following a jury trial in which the only contested issues were the cause and extent of the personal injuries appellee Ashlee Elizabeth Pagan suffered in a car wreck. Farmers contends the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded evidence regarding an incident Pagan had with a horse, which Farmers alleged was a potential cause of the personal injuries at issue...
OPINION Opinion by Justice Myers . Chandler Management Corporation appeals the trial court's order dismissing its suit against First Specialty Insurance Corporation, Vericlaim, Inc., and Jason Keen without prejudice for Chandler to re-file in New York pursuant to a forum-selection clause in the parties' contract. Chandler brings four issues on appeal contending (1) the trial court erred by dismissing Chandler's suit against Vericlaim and Keen because First Specialty did not request that...
OPINION 1 LEANNE JOHNSON , Justice . This is the second petition for permissive appeal filed by Jefferson County, Texas ("the County") seeking appellate review of an interlocutory order that is not otherwise appealable. On October 2, 2014, we issued a memorandum opinion denying the first petition for permissive appeal filed by the County relating to the trial court's denial of the County's Rule 91a motion to dismiss. 2 Jefferson Cnty. v. Swain, No. 09-14-00347-CV, 2014 WL 4952280 (Tex....
OPINION ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE , Chief Justice . ReadyOne Industries, Inc. appeals from an order denying its motion to compel arbitration. For the following reasons, we sustain Issue One, reverse the order denying the motion to compel arbitration, and remand to the trial court with instructions to enter an order compelling arbitration. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY This is a non-subscriber negligence case. Joel Antonio Flores filed suit against his employer, ReadyOne, alleging he...
OPINION ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE , Chief Justice . Stephen Hopper, Laura Wassmer and their stepmother Jo Hopper bring cross appeals from a summary judgment in a probate proceeding. The decedent, Max Hopper, married Jo Hopper in 1981. During the marriage, they purchased a home on Robledo Drive which they occupied until Max's death on January 25, 2010. Max died intestate. The couple had no children. Max's two children by a prior marriage, Stephen Hopper and Laura Wassmer, were his only heirs....
OPINION STEVEN L. HUGHES , Justice . M.O., Jr. appeals from the juvenile court's order modifying his disposition and committing him to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD). We affirm. BACKGROUND On August 29, 2011, M.O. was adjudicated for committing aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. 22.01(a)(1), 22.02(a)(2), (b), 71.02(a). M.O.'s initial disposition in September 2011 placed him on probation in his mother's home under standard...
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING OPINION David Puryear , Justice . We grant the motion for rehearing filed by Oncor, withdraw our opinion and judgment dated August 6, 2014, and substitute the following opinion in its place solely for the purpose of rendering judgment on the university-discount issue rather than remanding it to the Commission. See Tex. R. App. Proc. 43.4. We dismiss the motions for rehearing filed by the Public Utility Commission, the Steering Committee of Cities Served by...
OPINION Opinion by: Karen Angelini , Justice . On June 24, 2010, Arturo Arredondo was driving a charter bus for Kerrville Bus Company ("KBC") on Highway 281 when he failed to stop the bus in time to prevent it from hitting the back of a pick-up truck driven by Robert Perez. Twenty-one-year-old Perez and his mother, Rhonda Arevalo, suffered personal injuries as a result of the accident. They sued Arredondo for negligence. They also sued his employer, KBC, for gross negligence, negligent...
OPINION MICHAEL MASSENGALE , Justice . Appellants Waller County, Texas and its Commissioners Court consisting of County Judge Glenn Beckendorff and County Commissioners Frank Pokluda, Stan Kitzman, Jeron Barnett, and John Amsler, all acting in their official capacities (collectively, Waller County), filed a notice of interlocutory appeal. The County attempts to invoke our jurisdiction by asserting that the trial court denied a motion for summary judgment on jurisdictional grounds and...
OPINION BILL MEIER , Justice . I. INTRODUCTION Appellee Monty Bennett sued Appellant Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) for alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. 551.001-.146 (West 2012 & Supp. 2014). TRWD filed a plea to the jurisdiction, arguing that its immunity from Bennett's suit remained intact because the Texas Water Code expressly excepts the conduct of which Bennett complains from TOMA's coverage. See Tex. Water Code Ann....
