Opinion by Justice Rodriguez.
This is the second time we have addressed issues between these parties in interlocutory certificate-of-merit appeals. After the trial court entered an order dismissing Miramar's claims without prejudice, appellant Miramar Petroleum, Inc. (Miramar) appeals the trial court's subsequent order granting appellee Cimarron Engineering LLC's (Cimarron) motion to dismiss Miramar's re-filed suit with prejudice. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 150.002(e) (West, Westlaw through 2015 R.S.). We reverse and remand.
This lawsuit concerns damages related to a "blow out" at an oil and gas well known as Sartwelle # 1, which is owned by Miramar and located in Jackson County, Texas.
In Cimarron Engineering, LLC v. Miramar Petroleum, Inc., we considered the application of Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 150 to Miramar's claims against Cimarron and determined that Miramar was required to have filed a certificate of merit with its petition. See generally No., at *6 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi June 26, 2014, no pet.) (mem.op.). Having determined that Chapter 150 required dismissal of Miramar's claims against Cimarron, we remanded the case to the trial court for a determination of whether the dismissal of Miramar's claims against Cimarron should be with or without prejudice. See id. at *5-6 (recognizing that the determination of whether dismissal should be with or without prejudice is subject to the trial court's discretion).
On remand, the trial court entered an order dismissing Miramar's claims against Cimarron without prejudice. Miramar then refiled its claims against Cimarron in a sixth amended petition. In its sixth amended petition, Miramar alleged that it had only ten days before the expiration of the statute of limitations on its claims against Cimarron and that because of the time constraints, an affidavit of a third-party licensed professional could not be prepared. Miramar cited civil practice and remedies code section 150.002(c) for the exception to the requirement that it file a certificate of merit contemporaneously with its sixth amended petition. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 150.002(c) (West, Westlaw through 2015 R.S.) (stating that "[t]he contemporaneous filing requirement ... shall not apply to any case in which the period of limitation will expire within 10 days of the date of filing and, because of such time constraints, the plaintiff has alleged that an affidavit of a third-party ... licensed professional engineer ... could not be prepared"). Miramar subsequently filed its certificate of merit on May 8, 2015, approximately twenty-four days after filing its sixth amended petition but within the thirty-day period provided by civil practice and remedies code section 150.002(c). See id.
On the same day that Miramar filed its certificate of merit Cimarron filed a motion to dismiss Miramar's newly-filed claims against it with prejudice, alleging that Miramar's certificate of merit was untimely because it was not filed with its first amended original petition naming Cimarron as a party.
On May 13, 2015, Miramar also filed a motion to reconsider the trial court's order dismissing its claims with prejudice. At the hearing on Miramar's motion to reconsider, the trial court heard argument on Cimarron's motion to dismiss and subsequently denied Miramar's motion to reconsider, leaving his order dismissing Miramar's claim with prejudice standing.
By its sole issue, Miramar contends that the trial court abused its discretion by granting Cimarron's motion to dismiss with prejudice because its "newly-filed action" was supported by a certificate of merit. Cimarron responds that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing Miramar's claims with prejudice because Miramar did not file its certificate of merit contemporaneously with its first petition against Cimarron, as Cimarron argues was required by Chapter 150.
We review an order granting a Chapter 150 motion to dismiss under an abuse of discretion standard. TIC N. Cent. Dallas 3, L.L.C. v. Envirobusiness, Inc., 463 S.W.3d 71, 76 (Tex.App. — Dallas 2014, pet. denied). However, we conduct a de novo review of the issue if its resolution requires us to interpret or construe the statutory language. Id. (citing Morrison Seifert Murphy, Inc. v. Zion, 384 S.W.3d 421, 425 (Tex.App. — Dallas 2012, no pet.). Therefore, our analysis determining the application of Chapter 150 to claims refiled after being dismissed without prejudice is pursuant to a de novo review. See id.
The language of section 150.002(e) provides that "[t]he plaintiff's failure to file the affidavit in accordance with this section shall result in dismissal of the complaint against the defendant. This dismissal may be with prejudice." TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 150.002(e) (West, Westlaw through 2015 R.S.). Therefore, under section 150.002(e), a trial court is required to dismiss a complaint if the plaintiff did not file a certificate of merit in compliance with the statute. See Id. Though the trial court is required to dismiss the complaint if it was filed without a certificate of merit,
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals made the following distinction in Starwood:
461 S.W.3d at 630 (internal citations omitted). The court went on to hold that "[t]he plain language of section 150.002(e) authorizes a dismissal without prejudice." Id. (rejecting the argument that a dismissal without prejudice entitled the underlying defendant to an automatic dismissal of subsequently refiled claims); see also Envirobusiness, 463 S.W.3d at 76-77 (rejecting the argument that section 150.002(a)'s requirement that a certificate of merit be filed with the complaint means only the "first-filed" complaint).
Instead, section 150.002 requires that "the certificate of merit be filed with the first petition filed in a particular `action' or suit raising claims subject to the statute." Envirobusiness, 463 S.W.3d at 76 (noting that "action" refers to a lawsuit, not to claims asserted within a lawsuit). Therefore, when a plaintiff files a new action after a dismissal without prejudice and "includes a certificate of merit with the first-filed petition in that action, the plaintiff has complied with the plain language of the statute." Id. at 77 (emphasis added) (recognizing that the legal effect of a dismissal without prejudice places the parties in "the position that they were in before the court's jurisdiction was invoked just as if the suit had never been brought"); but see Bruington Engineering, Ltd. v. Pedernal Energy, L.L.C., 456 S.W.3d 181, 183 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 2014, pet. filed) (holding that a trial court has no discretion to dismiss a case without prejudice unless the exception found in 150.002(c) applied).
We conclude that section 150.002(e)'s provision grants the trial court discretion to dismiss a complaint without prejudice reveals the legislature's intent to allow a plaintiff to re-file a suit, not otherwise barred, in compliance with the statute. We therefore determine that Miramar, under the facts of this case, included a certificate of merit with its sixth amended petition against Cimarron in compliance with section 150.002. See Starwood, 461 S.W.3d at 630-31; Envirobusiness, 463 S.W.3d at 76-78; see also TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 150.002. In this instance, the trial court erred when it dismissed Miramar's re-filed claims with prejudice pursuant to section 150.002.
We sustain Miramar's sole issue on appeal.
We reverse the trial court's judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.