Recent Texas Case Law

Monday, September 21, 2015 | 0

NEW! United Scaffolding v. Levine, 13-14-00377-CV, (09/01/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that civil liability for a worker's injury in falling through a loose board in a scaffold had to come in the form of a negligence claim against the owner of the scaffold, not in a premises liability claim.

NEW! Hernandez v. W-S Industrial Services, 13-14-00404-CV, (08/31/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that the employee of a temporary staffing company qualified as the borrowed employee of his employer's client and so his remedy for his injuries while working for the client had to lay in the workers' compensation system.

NEW! Douglas v. State, 03-13-00092-CR, (08/26/2015): A Texas appellate court upheld the conviction of a doctor for defrauding the state's largest comp carrier by over-billing for functional capacity evaluations.

NEW! In re Texas Alliance of Energy, 09-15-00263-CV, (08/31/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a worker's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies for the alleged mishandling of his comp claim deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to address the issue.

NEW! Arnold v. Gonzalez, 13-13-00440-CV, (08/28/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a produce company employee was properly allowed to proceed with his negligence claim against the company president, even though the company subscribed to the comp system, and that the company president could be held jointly and severally liable for the jury's $3 million award of damages.

NEW! Katy Springs & Manufacturing v. Favalora, 14-14-00172-CV, (08/27/2015): A Texas appellate court upheld an award of $769,627.02 to a worker for his injuries in a manufacturing mishap, saying there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find the worker's nonsubscribing employer had breached its duty to provide him with a safe place to work.

NEW! Texas Health Resources v. Trumbull Insurance Co., 05-15-00813-CV, (08/26/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that the nurse who contracted the Ebola virus while caring for a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was not entitled to discovery of a note in the claim file for the hospital's insurance carrier discussing the potential coverage under its employer's liability policy.

NEW! Dallas National Insurance Co. v. De La Cruz, No. 13-0814, (08/28/2015): The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a former cook was not entitled to lifetime income benefits for her incurable pain from the nerve damage caused by her compensable back injury.

Salas v. Allen Keller Co., 04-14-00622-CV (08/19/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that the general contractor for a highway construction project owed no duty of care to a subcontractor's employee who died from a head injury while placing traffic control signs to warn motorists about the construction zone.

Burton v. Freescale Semiconductor, 14-50944 (08/25/2015): A federal appellate court ruled that an injured worker could not pursue a retaliatory termination claim against her temporary employer because it did not provide her with coverage under the Texas workers’ compensation system.

Diamond Offshore Services v. Williams, 01-13-01068-CV, (07/21/2015): A divided Texas appellate court panel upheld a jury's $8.5 million verdict in favor of an injured offshore rig worker for his back injury.

Denham v. Texas Mutual Insurance Co., 07-14-00435-CV, (07/15/2015): A Texas appellate court ruled that a worker's daughter was not entitled to death benefits for her father's fatal car accident because the THC in his body created a presumption that he was intoxicated at the time of his death.