Texas Case Law Update

Friday, March 20, 2015 | 0

NEW! Saiz v. Susser Holdings Corp., 04-14-00487-CV, (03/11/2015): A Texas appellate court upheld an arbitrator's decision that a worker's claims against her nonsubscribing employer were time-barred because she had failed to demand arbitration of them before the expiration of the statute of limitations for them.

NEW! Tijerina v. Texas Property Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, 03-13-00300-CV, (02/26/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a worker could not get the back surgery he wanted by filing a lawsuit to purportedly "enforce" an award of lifetime medical care he received in 1989.

NEW! Gallardo v. Insurance Co. of the State of Pennsylvania, 13-14-00132-CV, (02/19/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a trial judge can order a worker to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement requiring her to submit paperwork to the Division of Workers’ Compensation pertaining to her entitlement to benefits, even though the judge could not adjudicate her entitlement to those benefits.

NEW! Duncan v. First Texas Homes, 02-12-00464-CV, (02/12/2015): A Texas appellate court overturned a grant of summary judgment in favor of a nonsubscribing employer on the issue of liability for a worker's fall while descending a staircase at a construction site.

Rincones v. WHM Custom Services et al., 13-11-00075-CV, (02/12/2015): Workers' compensation exclusive remedy did not protect a business from a negligence claim filed by a worker who alleged that he was fired after a mandatory drug test falsely indicated that he had used marijuana, the Texas 13th District Court of Appeals ruled.

Forsthoff v. Brazos County, 10-14-00297-CV, (02/05/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a self-represented corrections officer waived any argument she might have been able to raise regarding a grant of summary judgment in favor of her former employer regarding the extent of her compensable back injury because of her inadequate briefing.

Tesco Corp. v. Steadfast Insurance Co., 01-13-00091-CV, (02/03/2015): A Texas appellate court vacated its prior decision reversing a grant of summary judgment in an insurance coverage dispute over who had to pay punitive damages to a worker injured in a drilling accident since the underlying award of punitive damages had been reversed.

Taylor v. The Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest, 14-13-00731-CV, (01/27/2015): A Texas appellate court upheld summary judgment against an injured worker on her challenge to the denial of benefits for an alleged head and spine injury from an industrial accident, as well as a challenge to her impairment rating from the conditions which the state Workers’ Compensation Commission had found to be compensable.

West Star Transportation v. Robison, 07-13-00109-CV, (01/23/2015): The 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo upheld a $5.5 million jury verdict in favor of a trucker who suffered severe head injuries in a fall at the company's yard in Lubbock, rejecting the employer's argument that it had no duty to warn, train or supervise the trucker because he was an experienced flatbed truck driver with more than 30 years of experience.

McKelvy v. Columbia Medical Center of McKinney Subsidiary, 05-13-00990-CV, (01/14/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a hospital employee could pursue a tort claim against her non-subscribing employer for a workplace fall, and that her claim was for ordinary negligence, outside the ambit of the state Medical Liability Act.

Texas Department of Insurance v. Mensch, 04-14-00449-CV, (01/14/2015): The 4th District Court of Appeals said that a worker could not get a court order compelling the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation to review a carrier's denial of preauthorization for dental work related to his 1980 injury.

Campos v. Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, 08-13-00289-CV, (12/30/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that a worker's failure to challenge all of the arguments that his employer's carrier had raised in moving for summary judgment as to his impairment rating meant the summary judgment had to be affirmed.

Phillips v. SACHEM, 03-13-00346-CV, (12/31/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that an employer who fired an injured employee one day after his doctor indicated that he'd need to be off work longer than originally anticipated wasn't entitled to summary judgment on the worker's retaliatory discharge claim.

Bigby v. Stephens, 13-70020, (12/18/2014): A federal appellate court will not allow a death-row inmate who killed four people he suspected of conspiring to defeat his comp claim to continue his pursuit of habeas corpus relief.

VanderWerff v. Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, 03-12-00711-CV, (12/2014): A Texas chiropractor lost his appeal of a $1,500 sanction imposed against him by the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners for his "grossly unprofessional conduct," despite a finding by an administrative law judge that he had done nothing wrong.

Irika Shipping v. Henderson, 09-13-00237-CV, (12/18/2014): A Texas appellate court overturned a $1.7 million verdict to an injured longshoreman based on an error in the instructions issued to the jury.