Important Recent Case Law for Texas

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 | 0

NEW! Mulgrew v. Spectraseis, 14-13-00252-CV, (06/10/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that the state's judicial system had jurisdiction over a British citizen's tort claim against his alleged Houston-based employer for a frostbite injury he sustained while working in Canada.

NEW! Davis v. American Casualty Co. of Reading Pa., 07-13-00190-CV, (06/04/2014): A carrier was entitled to summary judgment on a worker's claim that it had breached its common-law duty of good faith and fair dealing in calculating his temporary income benefits, a Texas appellate court ruled. 

NEW! City of Houston v. Proler, 12-1006, (06/06/2014): A firefighter with a psychological condition that prevents him from being able to actually fight fires does not have a "disability" under either state or federal law, the Texas Supreme Court ruled. 

NEW! Bituminous Fire & Marine Insurance Co. v. Ruel, 07-12-00507-CV, (06/04/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that an electrician who tested positive for cocaine after suffering electrical burns was not barred from collecting workers' compensation benefits for his injuries. 

NEW! Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Portillo, 13-10-00470-CV, (06/05/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that a report from a worker's treating doctor, which had been accepted by a trial court judge, was insufficient to establish the worker's impairment rating of 20%.

NEW! Southern County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Great West Casualty Co., 10-14-00032-CV, (05/22/2014): The workers' compensation insurance carrier that paid benefits for a worker's car accident could recover its subrogation interest against the automobile liability insurance carrier for the worker's employer, a Texas appellate court ruled. 

NEW! PAK Foods Houston v. Marissa Garcia, 14-13-00409-CV, (05/22/2014): A Texas appeals court ruled that a minor who was injured at a fast food restaurant could, and did, disaffirm her arbitration agreement with her employer, allowing the worker to continue a personal injury lawsuit for a workplace injury.

NEW! FD Frontier Drilling (Cyprus) v. Didmon, 01-12-01160-CV, (05/01/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that an international maritime employer was entitled to compel the submission of its employee's personal injury action to arbitration.

Adams v. Golden Rule Service, 14-13-00421-CV, (04/24/2014): A health care worker seeking to sue her nonsubscribing employer for injuries she sustained while assisting a patient had to comply with the pleading requirements of the Texas Medical Liability Act, the 14th Court of Appeals ruled.

Bontke v. Cargill Meat Logistics Solution, 07-12-00328-CV, (04/14/2014): A Texas appellate court upheld a jury verdict rejecting a worker's claims of negligence based on his injuries from being knocked to the ground by a steer while trying to make a livestock delivery.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services v. Howard, 05-13-00817-CV, (04/15/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that a government agency was entitled to summary judgment in its favor on a worker's claim that it had wrongfully refused to accommodate her disability, but it was not entitled to summary judgment in its favor on the worker's disability discrimination claim. 

West v. Southern County Mutual Insurance Co., 05-13-00012-CV, (04/10/2014): A Texas appellate court ruled that the phrase "domestic employee," as used in a business automobile insurance policy, was not ambiguous and clearly excluded from coverage a worker who was injured in the course of his employment.

Mungia v. VIA Metropolitan Transit, 04-13-00549-CV, (04/09/2014): An employer that sought to vacate a default judgment against it, as well as a declaratory judgment that the default judgment was void, could not obtain an award of attorney fees under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act, since its declaratory relief claim was duplicative of its challenge to the default judgment, a Texas appellate court ruled.

Estate of Knetsar v. AAA Asphalt Paving, 01-11-00089-CV, (04/03/2014): The family of a worker killed in an on-the-job accident cannot pursue its gross negligence claim against his employer because the family failed to file a timely response to the employer's motion for summary judgment, a Texas appellate court ruled.