Supreme Court of Texas Decisions 2012
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0648
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0648
Justia Opinion Summary: A pipeline owner (Owner) purchased sixty-eight mile-long pipeline constructed in the 1940s and made plans to remove the old pipeline and construct a new one that would carry butane. Owner awarded Contractor the contract…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0755
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent sued the City of Houston. After an attempted settlement, Respondent asserted that the City breached the settlement agreement. The City filed a plea to the jurisdiction, which the trial court denied. The court…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0891
Justia Opinion Summary: After Mother became pregnant with Father's child, Mother moved from Texas to New Mexico, where she lived with Child since his birth. Father filed for divorce and subsequently filed a petition requesting shared custody…
Date: December 14, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0451
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, several homeowners, filed an action against a gas company, alleging that noise and odor emanating from the company's compressor station caused a permanent nuisance. The company responded by asserting that…
Date: November 16, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0319
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner suffered an injury while in the course and scope of his employment. The employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier paid medical benefits but contested the extent of Petitioner's entitlement to…
Date: November 16, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0437
Justia Opinion Summary: This special defect case involved a concrete guardrail. Jose Perches was killed while navigating an underpass. Perches's parents sued the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The trial court denied TxDOT's…
Date: November 2, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0312
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal questioned the validity of certain conditions a grantor placed on a dedicated public-street easement. The easement in question provided for a 100-foot-wide public right of way, but the instrument dedicating…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0495
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent injured his back while working, and his employer's workers' compensation insurer, Texas Mutual Insurance Company (TMIC), accepted the injury as compensable. Three years later when it was discovered that…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0362
Justia Opinion Summary: A school district (District) obtained an in rem delinquent property tax judgment against an oil and gas lease that Respondent owned and operated. Respondent did not appeal, and the District foreclosed its judgment lien…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0647
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from a suit by ExxonMobil Corporation against DSTJ, LLP and Milestone Operating, Inc. (collectively Milestone). After Milestone failed to answer, ExxonMobil obtained a default judgment. Milestone…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0650
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether taxpayers who were sued for nonpayment of property taxes lost their entitlement to contest liability based on non-ownership when the taxing authorities non-suited after the taxpayers…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0728
Justia Opinion Summary: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice Community Justice Assistance Division (TDCJ) brought this interlocutory appeal from the denial of its plea to the jurisdiction as to claims for damages related to actions of two…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 12-0038
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was before the Supreme Court a second time and concerned a business dispute between Rancho La Valencia, Inc. and Aquaplex, Inc. In the earlier appeal, the Court held that the evidence of fraudulent intent by…
Date: October 22, 2012
Docket Number: 12-0156
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether a non-hurricane windstorm case could be joined as a tag-along to a previously created pre-trial Hurricane Ike multidistrict litigation (MDL) court. A single pretrial judge remanded this…
Date: October 19, 2012
Docket Number: 12-0518
Justia Opinion Summary: Since first imposing a franchise tax in 1893, the Legislature restructured it several times, drawing various distinctions among taxpayers with adjustments, deductions, and exemptions that became elaborate. Petitioner in…
Date: October 12, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0713
Justia Opinion Summary: A court cannot terminate a person's rights unless the State proves by clear and convincing evidence that the parent engaged in certain proscribed conduct, as specified in the Family Code, and that termination is in the…
Date: October 5, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0155
Justia Opinion Summary: G.W., David Gray and Lucy Wood's nine-year-old daughter, had lived with her maternal grandmother, Ann Shook, for her entire life. The trial court appointed Shook as G.W.'s sole managing conservator and named Gray and…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0316
Justia Opinion Summary: This was an appeal from the City of Austin's condemnation of property to build a parking garage for a nearby convention center and a facility to chill water to cool nearby buildings. A jury found the City's determination…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0353
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent, a professor at Prairie View A&M University, filed a complaint with the EEOC and the Texas Workforce Commission civil rights division (TWC), alleging race and nationality-based pay discrimination, about two…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0491
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0491
Justia Opinion Summary: As tasked by the Legislature, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) identified potential reservoir sites. Hearts Bluff Game Ranch, Inc. purchased some of the wetlands on one of the sites identified by the TWDB as a…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0526
Justia Opinion Summary: In Plaintiff's negligence against United Scaffolding, a jury assigned fifty-one percent responsibility for Plaintiff's injuries to United. The trial court subsequently granted Plaintiff's motion for a new trial in the…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0548
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0548
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0548
Justia Opinion Summary: In this health care liability claim, the trial court denied Rusk State Hospital's challenge to the plaintiffs' expert reports. The hospital filed an interlocutory appeal from that ruling. On appeal, the hospital, for the…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0605
Justia Opinion Summary: Michael Wayne Bohannan pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated rape with a deadly weapon. Upon being released on mandatory supervision, Bohannan was thrice returned to prison for sexual crimes. After receiving a…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0781
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0781
Justia Opinion Summary: After being seriously injured in an accident by a U-Haul truck, Plaintiff sued several U-Haul corporate entities and an independent dealer on theories of negligence and gross negligence, alleging that the accident was…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0887
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the duties and standard of care of an oil and gas operator under an exculpatory clause in a joint operating agreement (JOA). Based on language in the exculpatory clause in the JOA, the trial court…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0928
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0928
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0928
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0928
Justia Opinion Summary: Two female patients sued a medical doctor, the professional association bearing his name, and a clinic, alleging the doctor assaulted the patients by groping their breasts while examining them for sinus and flu symptoms.…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0950
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0950
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a dispute over the fair market value of acreage on which a gas processing facility was located. At issue was whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting an expert's testimony that…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 10-1028
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from a summary judgment dismissal of a direct and collateral attack, Petitioner contended that the underlying judgment was void and subject to collateral attack at any time. In this regard, Petitioner…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0057
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether mere statements of intent to discontinue a joint venture cause automatic dissolution of the venture as a matter of law. Plaintiff sued Defendant for breach of an oral agreement, alleging…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0217
Justia Opinion Summary: A corporation (Infodisc) and one of its subsidiaries (M-TX) defaulted on a loan from a bank. A California court placed the borrowers in receivership to liquidate their assets securing the loan, and an ancillary…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0282
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0429
Justia Opinion Summary: An employee (Employee) of the Austin Independent School District (AISD), a self-insured governmental entity, was injured on the job. AISD acknowledged that Employee had been injured but disputed whether the compensable…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0597
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether, for purposes of Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 16.068, an action for cargo damage against a common carrier, brought under the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, relates…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0644
Justia Opinion Summary: In this employer retaliation case, a broad-form jury question allowed the jury to find liability based on a legal theory that was jurisdictionally barred and thus could not support liability. The trial court entered a…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0888
Justia Opinion Summary: The City notified a building owner that her property was in disrepair and that, unless she repaired it, the City might demolish it. After the owner failed to remedy the problem, the City declared the property a public…
Date: August 31, 2012
Docket Number: 12-0305
Justia Opinion Summary: In this primary election case, Choco Meza, chair of the county democratic party, determined that petitions filed with Monica Caballero's application for a place on the county democratic party primary election ballot as a…
Date: August 17, 2012
Docket Number: 06-1084
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case was whether an appellate court has jurisdiction over an appeal from a trial court order confirming an arbitration award in part and vacating the award in part based on the existence of unresolved…
Date: August 17, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0901
Date: August 17, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0596
Justia Opinion Summary: The Texas Tort Claims Act imposes a lesser duty of care on the government when a premises liability claim does not involve a special defect. Plaintiff sued City, claiming that its negligence in creating and failing to…
Date: July 6, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0282
Justia Opinion Summary: Several months after removing Mother's four children from her home and becoming their temporary managing conservator, the Department of Family Protective Services petitioned the trial court to terminate Mother's parental…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0905
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner claimed a trailer was his, but, upon evidence the trailer was stolen, the justice court awarded the trailer to the State. Later, Petitioner filed for bankruptcy and scheduled the trailer as an asset of his…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0554
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee suffered an injury during the course of his employment that was compensable under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act. Petitioner insurance company provided workers' compensation coverage to Employee's employer.…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0603
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0603
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this interlocutory appeal was whether the claims of an employee against his employer, both of whom were health care providers, alleging injuries arising out of inadequate training, supervision,…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0750
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0750
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought a Deceptive Trade Practices Act suit against Company and its co-operators for violating the terms of a contract. Through a process server, Plaintiff served all three Defendants with citations, but one…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0802
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0802
Justia Opinion Summary: After Employer fired her, Plaintiff filed suit, alleging that she was discriminated against based on her race, national origin, age, and gender. Employer filed a plea to the jurisdiction, arguing that Plaintiff's…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0960
Justia Opinion Summary: An injured employee (Employee) sought workers' compensation benefits for a work-related injury. A claims adjuster with Employer's workers' compensation insurer's (Insurer) third party administrator denied the claim. The…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0960
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0288
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0348
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0367
Justia Opinion Summary: Sarah Friend collapsed at a city-owned water park in North Richland Hills. City employees responded with oxygen masks and other airway equipment but did not retrieve an Automatic External Defibrillator device (AED) from…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0400
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0519
Justia Opinion Summary: This suit was filed by a daughter against an organ donation charity when she discovered that the charity - contrary to an earlier representation to her - would allegedly profit from harvesting her deceased mother's…
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0751
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0751
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0751
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0745
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0435
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0435
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0490
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0490
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0997
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0079
Date: June 15, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0059
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when the owner of a gas-fired electric power generating plant sued the owner of the pipeline that supplied fuel to the plant for negligence in allowing interruptions in service and in delivering gas below…
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0223
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0671
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0714
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0714
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0831
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0983
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0316
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0434
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0374
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties to the appeal disagreed about whether an employer who self funded a health-benefit plan for its employees was an "insurer" under the Texas Insurance Code, and therefore should be treated as a reinsurer when…
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0859
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury found petitioner committed sexual assault of a child based on the testimony of two witnesses who have recanted, and sentenced petitioner to 22 years' confinement after hearing false testimony by a State's expert.…
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0886
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator sought compensation from the state following the Texas Court of Appeals' grant of habeas relief. Under the Tim Cole Act, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 103.001(a), a wrongfully imprisoned person could seek…
Date: May 11, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0079
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought this suit against defendant alleging negligence in the treatment of Ronnie Young. At issue was whether the presumed harm analysis applied to a broad-form submission in a single-theory-of-liability case…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 06-1084
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 06-1084
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from respondent's injury on the job and the arbitration agreement he signed as a condition of his employment. At issue was whether an appellate court had jurisdiction over an appeal from a trial court…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0426
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought a wrongful termination claim against his employer under Sabine Pilot Service, Inc. v. Hauck, seeking lost wages, mental anguish damages, and exemplary damages. This case required the court to clarify…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0609
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0615
Justia Opinion Summary: This was an appeal from a judgment awarding tenant damages for a landlord's breach of a construction-related duty under a build-to-suit lease agreement. The tenant sued asserting that the landlord's failure to adhere to…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0969
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0995
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stemmed from litigation between a homeowner, its insurer, and the company hired to restore the home after a series of storms caused damage to the home. A jury found in the restoration company's favor and the…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0387
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0387
Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to article V, section 3-c of the Texas Constitution and Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 58.1, the court accepted the petition from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to answer three…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0387
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0387
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0387
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0321
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0321
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when respondent was arrested by a state trooper for driving while intoxicated. At issue was whether a peace officer's arrest report must be excluded from evidence if not sworn as required by law. Because…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0953
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a dispute over fees awarded to an ad litem appointed in connection with the proposed division of a personal injury settlement between an incapacitated plaintiff and his guardian. The court-appointed…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0023
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and her son were injured when her car was struck by a pickup truck driven by Edward Cantu. MCAA employed Cantu and Puckett owned the truck. Cantu's negligence was stipulated. The jury found that, although MCAA…
Date: March 28, 2012
Docket Number: 12-0208
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0908
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0908
Justia Opinion Summary: In this suit for an alleged breach of a deposit agreement, the court reviewed the court of appeals' judgment in favor of an estate administrator, as well as the estate administrator's cross-petition concerning attorney's…
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0687
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0776
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a mediated settlement agreement (MSA) from a divorce. At issue was whether the court of appeals erred in setting aside the underlying MSA, which the trial court purported to follow in its divorce…
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0776
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0970
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner suffered injuries when he was struck by a power line belonging to Entergy. Petitioner filed a negligence per se claim against Entergy based on petitioner's claim that the power line was less than 22 feet above…
Date: March 2, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0901
Date: February 24, 2012
Docket Number: 08-0964
Date: February 17, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0715
Date: February 10, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0855
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners and its affiliates, manufacturers and distributors of food and beverages in the United States, sought a declaration that the Texas franchise tax was unconstitutional, Tex. Tax Code 171.0001-.501, an…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0257
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent appealed the URSB's determination that her property was an urban nuisance and that the property should be demolished. The trial court affirmed the USRB's finding that respondent's home was an urban nuisance…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 09-0506
Justia Opinion Summary: A property owner appealed an administrative determination that his property was a nuisance and he also asserted a takings claim. The property owner then nonsuited the case. He later filed this suit, again alleging that…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 10-0523
Justia Opinion Summary: Rafael Casados suffered a fatal, work-related injury while working for two employers that both had workers' compensation coverage. Casados' parents sued one of the employers. At issue was whether workers' compensation…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 11-0245
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.