Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §33.004
§33.004 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code governs the designation of a Responsible Third Party. While sections (a)-(i) of §33.004 discuss designating a known Responsible Third Party, this blog discusses section (j) which provides the procedure for designating an unknown party as a Responsible Third Party.
§33.004(j) provides that a defendant may designate an unknown party as a Responsible Third Party if, within 60 days after filing the original answer, the defendant files an answer alleging that an unknown person committed a criminal act which caused the injury in question. If defendants meet this predicate requirement, then the court shall grant a motion for leave to designate the unknown person as a Responsible Third Party if the defendant meets three additional requirements: (1) the court determines the defendant has pleaded facts sufficient to show there is a reasonable probability that the unknown person’s act was criminal, (2) the defendant stated in the answer all known identifying characteristics of the unknown person, and (3) the allegation satisfies the pleading requirements of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
Recent Supreme Court of Texas Opinion
Recently, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in In re Gilberto Gonzales. In that case, Gonzales sued Houston Distributing for negligently causing an automobile accident. He alleged that the truck driver employed by Houston Distributing rear-ended a pickup truck behind Gonzales, which caused the pickup truck to rear-end Gonzales.
Houston Distributing filed a motion for leave to designate an unknown person (“John Doe”) as a Responsible Third Party 135 days after filing its original answer. It alleged that John Doe cut in front of Gonzales’s truck and stopped suddenly, negligently causing the accident. Then, it filed a second amended answer, three weeks later, alleging that an unknown person caused the accident, but it did not allege that John Doe committed a criminal act nor did it describe any identifying characteristics of John Doe. Gonzales filed objections to and a motion to strike the motion for leave arguing that Houston Distributing failed to timely file an amended answer alleging John Doe’s responsibility.
The trial court granted the motion for leave. In the resulting mandamus proceeding, the Texas Supreme Court found that the trial court abused its discretion by granting the John Doe designation. As discussed above, § 33.004(j) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets forth the requirements for designating “an unknown person as a Responsible Third Party.”
In this case, the Texas Supreme Court found that Houston Distributing failed to satisfy the predicate requirement. Specifically, the amended answer was not filed within 60 days of the original answer — it was filed more than two years and eight months later – and it failed to contain any allegations that John Doe committed a criminal act or include any identifying characteristics of John Doe.
Houston Distributing also argued that Section 33.004(j) is not the exclusive means for designating an unknown person as a Responsible Third Party. However, the Supreme Court of Texas disagreed noting both that Section 33.004(j) is the only statutory provision that addresses requirements for designation of an “unknown” person as a Responsible Third Party and that Section 33.004(j) expressly provides that it applies notwithstanding any other provision.
Because the Court found that Houston Distributing failed to timely and adequately comply with the pleading requirements under Section 33.004(j), the Court concluded that the trial court abused its discretion in granting leave to designate John Doe as an unknown Responsible Third Party.
Additionally, because the Court found that no adequate remedy by appeal exists to protect the plaintiff’s right not to have to try the case against an empty chair when the trial court erroneously grants a defendant’s late motion for leave to designate a time-barred Responsible Third Party, the Court confirmed that this was an appropriate case in which to grant mandamus relief.
Takeaways
- §33.004(j) is the exclusive means for designating an unknown person as a Responsible Third Party.
- If attempting to designate an unknown Responsible Third Party, you must do so within 60 days of the original answer.
- As a predicate requirement, §33.004(j) requires pleading of facts specific enough for the court to determine that the unknown party committed a criminal act that caused the injury.
