Butler Weldments v. Liberty Mut. Ins.

3 S.W.3d 654, 1999 WL 795210
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 7, 1999
Docket03-98-00591-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 3 S.W.3d 654 (Butler Weldments v. Liberty Mut. Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butler Weldments v. Liberty Mut. Ins., 3 S.W.3d 654, 1999 WL 795210 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

3 S.W.3d 654 (1999)

THE BUTLER WELDMENTS CORPORATION and Bryan Construction Company, Appellants,
v.
LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., Appellees.

No. 03-98-00591-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Austin.

October 7, 1999.

*655 John L. Malesovas, Malesovas & Martin, L.L.P., Waco, for Appellants.

J. Hampton Skelton, Skelton & Woody, Austin, John M. Skrhak, Looper, Reed, Mark & McGraw, Dallas, for Appellees.

Before Justices JONES, KIDD and PATTERSON.

MACK KIDD, Justice.

Appellants Butler Weldments Corporation ("Butler") and Bryan Construction Company ("Bryan") sued appellees, a defendant class of workers' compensation insurance carriers[1] (the "Insurers") including Liberty Mutual Insurance Company ("Liberty") and Highlands Insurance Company ("Highlands") on several grounds, alleging that the Insurers had wrongfully withheld monies due them for years 1993 and 1994 and demanding that the Insurers pay them interest on those retained amounts. The sole issue presented on appeal is whether the trial court erred in *656 granting the Insurers' special exceptions to Butler and Bryan's pleadings and in dismissing the claims with prejudice after ruling that Butler and Bryan had failed to plead a cognizable cause of action. Finding no error, we will affirm the district court's judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act, an employer may obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage through a licensed insurance company or, in certain instances, through self-insurance. See Tex. Labor Code Ann. § 406.003 (West 1996). Many employers who are unable to purchase insurance in the private voluntary market also are ineligible to self-insure. Since 1953, the Texas legislature has prescribed a variety of "residual" or "involuntary" market mechanisms to afford coverage to these "rejected risks," i.e., those employers unable to obtain workers' compensation insurance through ordinary methods in the voluntary market. See Act of April 9, 1953, 53d Leg., R.S., ch. 279, 1953 Tex. Gen. Laws 716 (Tex. Ins. Code Ann. art. 5.76-1, since repealed by Act of Nov. 21, 1989, 71st Leg., 2d C.S., ch. 1, § 16.01, 1989 Tex. Gen. Laws 114). Until the 1989 legislative session, this coverage was provided by the Texas Workers' Compensation Assigned Risk Pool (the "Pool"). Id. In 1989, the legislature replaced the Pool with the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Facility[2] (the "Facility"). See Act of Nov. 21, 1989, 71st Leg., 2d C.S., ch. 1, § 16.01, 1989 Tex. Gen. Laws 114 (amended by Act of Aug. 22, 1991, 72d Leg., 2d C.S., ch.12, § 18.01, 1991 Tex. Gen. Laws 337, eff. Jan. 1 1994, currently codified at Tex. Ins.Code Ann. art. 5.76-3 (West Supp.1999)). All insurance companies licensed to write workers' compensation insurance in Texas were required to join the Facility. As members, the insurance companies were made financially responsible for the Facility's operational deficits and surpluses each year. See Tex. Ins.Code Ann. art. 5.76-2, § 1.01 (amended 1991) (currently codified at Tex. Ins.Code Ann. art. 5.76-3 (West Supp. 1999)). For any year in which the Facility operated at a deficit, the deficit amount was to be assessed against all Facility member insurance carriers; conversely, for any year in which the Facility operated at a surplus, the surplus amount was to be rebated among all Facility members.

Also in 1989, the legislature enacted a provision whereby the members of the Facility would pass a portion of the Facility's annual deficits or surpluses on to their insureds who had purchased "retrospectively-rated" policies[3] of workers' compensation insurance in the voluntary market for that particular year. See Act of Nov. 21, 1989, 71st Leg., 2d C.S., ch.1, § 16.01, 1989 Tex. Gen. Laws 114 (amended 1991). In order to provide a means of calculating the amount to be assessed against or paid to each eligible policyholder, the Texas Department of Insurance (the "Department") was given the duty of setting the appropriate "pass-through allowance" for each year. See Tex. Ins.Code Ann. art. 5.76-2, § 4.04(d),(e) (amended 1991). This allowance was to be based upon the premium paid by the retrospectively-rated policyholder as a proportion of the total voluntary writings by the insurance carriers for the calendar year. See id.

The material facts in the case before us are undisputed. Butler purchased a workers' compensation insurance policy from Liberty to cover its Texas employees for the period beginning January 1, 1993, and ending December 31, 1993. Bryan purchased *657 a workers' compensation insurance policy from Highlands to cover its Texas employees for the period beginning June 30, 1993, and ending June 30, 1994. Both policies were written on a retrospectively-rated basis. Both Liberty and Highlands were Facility members.

In 1991, the Facility produced a surplus for the first time in nearly thirty-five years. A significant surplus was also generated in 1992, 1993, and 1994. At some point, certain policyholders petitioned the Department to adopt a rule compelling the Insurers to give each retrospectively-rated policyholder a portion of the surplus in accordance with article 5.76-2, section 4.04(d) and (e) of the Insurance Code. See Tex. Ins.Code Ann. art. 5.76-2, § 4.04(d), (e) (amended 1991).[4] The Department commenced rulemaking proceedings pursuant to these requests on March 10, 1997, and invited participation by all interested parties, including Butler, Bryan, and all other retrospectively-rated policyholders. Notwithstanding the ongoing rulemaking proceedings, Butler and Bryan filed suit in Milam County on March 31, 1997, against Liberty, Highlands, and the other members of the Facility.

In their suit against the Insurers, Butler and Bryan sought, both in their individual capacities and on behalf of a proposed class of policyholders, judgment for their share of the 1993 and 1994 surpluses. In July 1997, the Department issued a rule establishing the appropriate pass-through allowances for each of the surplus years and ordering the Insurers to remit a designated portion of the 1993 and 1994 surpluses to Butler, Bryan, and the other eligible policyholders within 180 days of the rule's effective date. Despite the protests of Butler, Bryan, and the other policyholders, the Department refused to order as part of the distribution the payment of interest that had accrued on the surplus while the funds were in the possession of the Insurers.

After the Insurers complied with the Department's order to disburse the surplus, Butler and Bryan accepted the surplus rebates and abandoned their claims for the pass-through amounts. However, they amended their petition to seek recovery of the interest that had accrued on the surplus amounts from the time the Facility rebated the surpluses to the Insurers until the Insurers disbursed the surplus to the policyholders pursuant to the Department's 1997 order. Upon agreement of all the parties, the cause was transferred to Travis County where it was consolidated with a related suit and then later severed. Liberty, Highlands, and the Insurers filed special exceptions asking the court to strike Butler and Bryan's pleadings for failure to state a cause of action. The court granted the special exceptions and ordered Butler and Bryan to replead.

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