The Covenants Not to Compete Act (the "Act") governs the enforceability of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. To be enforceable under the Act, an agreement must (1) be ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement at the time the agreement is made and...
Year: 2015
Don’t Fall, This Fall
The Case Austin v. Kroger Texas, L.P., 465 S.W.3d 193 (Tex. 2015). Background Kroger, a non-subscriber to the Texas Workers' Compensation plan, was the employer of Plaintiff, Randy Austin. In the process of power-washing the condenser units on the store's roof, an...
Court Gets Teed Off at Golf-Cart Spoliation
The Case Repass v. Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, L.L.C., No. 3:14-CV-1054- M (N.D. Tex. Oct. 16, 2015). Background During her visit to a Rosewood Hotels & Resorts' ("Defendant") property in Antigua in September of 2012, Christine Repass ("Plaintiff")...
Inadvertent Liability after a “Tow”-tal Loss
The Case Canal Ins. Co. v. Hopkins, 238 S.W.3d 549 (Tex. App.-Tyler 2007, no pet.). Background The driver/lessee of a tractor/trailer rig, Henry Sweeney, was involved in an accident where he drove off the road into a ditch. The rig rolled over and could not be driven...
Falling Within the Scope of Chapter 74: The Fourteenth Court of Appeals Clarifies the Difference between Health-Care-Liability Claims and Typical Premises Liability Claims
The Case Lout v. Methodist Hosp., 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 6272 (Tex. App. - Houston [14th Dist.] June 23, 2015). Background The Plaintiff Omega Lout sued The Methodist Hospital ("Hospital") when she slipped on water that had accumulated on the floor of the Hospital's...
Deaths in the Texas City Waters Draw the Line Between a Tragic Accident and a Conscious Mistake
Suarez v. The City of Texas City, Case 13-0947 The Facts The deaths of a young father and his twin daughters happened when they went swimming in the Texas City Dike, a man-made peninsula jutting into Galveston Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the Dike...
Mind the Gap(s): Uber and the Liabilities of the Sharing Economy
Imagine pressing a button and, within minutes, a personal chauffeur arrives at your front door. Uber, the popular ridesharing app, has made this a common occurrence in over 300 cities spanning 58 countries worldwide. Users need only open the app on their smartphone,...
A Distinct Dilemma: The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Calculating Future Medical Expenses (Part 3 of 3)
In previous posts, we discussed how the Affordable Care Act may be the death knell of the common law collateral source rule, which prevents defendants from introducing evidence that a plaintiff's future medical expenses will be covered by insurance. At a minimum, the...
When Representation Goes Downhill: Husband Disqualified as Counsel in Products Liability Case
The Case: Spencer v. BMW of N. Am., LLC, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83112, (W.D. Tex. June 26, 2015). Brief Facts: On September 18, 2015, Erin Spencer was attempting to operate her BMW X5. She attempted to disengage the emergency brake, which she alleged was located at the...
Farmers Opposing Arbitration Fail to Cultivate Favor of Court of Appeals
The Case: Venture Cotton Coop. v. Freeman, No. 11-11-00093-CV, 2015 WL 1967251 (Tex. App. Apr. 30, 2015). Brief Facts: A group of cotton farmers (Appellees) contracted to sell cotton to Venture, managed by Noble (Appellants), a cotton cooperative-marketing...