Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso, Inc. v. Ayuda Home Health Care Services, LLC

404 S.W.3d 737, 35 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1436, 2013 WL 2250704, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 6299
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 22, 2013
DocketNo. 08-11-00332-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 404 S.W.3d 737 (Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso, Inc. v. Ayuda Home Health Care Services, LLC) 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
Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso, Inc. v. Ayuda Home Health Care Services, LLC, 404 S.W.3d 737, 35 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1436, 2013 WL 2250704, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 6299 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

GUADALUPE RIVERA, Justice.

Appellant, Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso Inc., appeals from a grant of a summary judgment in favor of Appellees, Ayuda Home Health Care Services LLC (“Ayuda Home Health”), Edwing A. Martinez, Lizette Martinez, Jesus R. Rodriguez, and Olga L. Rodriguez. Appellant raises four issues on appeal. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

BACKGROUND

Appellant is a home health care agency that provides home health care, hospice care, and primary care to patients in the city of El Paso. Appellees Edwing A. Martinez, Lizette Martinez, Jesus R. Rodriguez, and Olga L. Rodriguez are former [742]*742employees of Appellant.1 During their employment with Appellant, Appellees had access to Appellant’s confidential business information and medical records. While still employed by Appellant, Appellees made plans to compete against Appellant and took active steps to do so by forming Ayuda Home Health, a home health care agency. Appellees did not disclose these plans to Appellant. Shortly before or after Appellees resigned from their jobs with Appellant on February 5, 2009, Appellees discharged approximately thirty patients from Appellant’s care.

That same month, Appellant sued Appel-lees for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, conversion, and disgorgement. In particular, Appellant’s claims asserted that Appellees misappropriated Appellant’s confidential and proprietary information for their own commercial use in the form of client lists, supplier lists, client contact information, policy and procedure and employee manuals, and procedure forms. Appellant alleged that Appellees had induced Appellant’s clients to transfer to Ayuda Home Health and, as a result, Appellant suffered lost profits.

In part, Appellees answered the suit with a general denial and asserted counterclaims against Appellant. In December 2010, Appellee Olga L. Rodriguez moved for summary judgment on no-evidence and traditional grounds as to all of Appellant’s claims. The other Appellees jointly filed a motion for summary judgment in March 2011 asserting no-evidence and traditional grounds.2 Appellant filed separate responses to each summary judgment motion. The trial court granted all motions for summary judgment without specifying the grounds upon which it relied. Appel-lees subsequently nonsuited their counterclaims against Appellant, which were dismissed without prejudice, and this appeal ensued.

DISCUSSION

Appellant raises four issues for our consideration, each alleging that the trial court erred in granting Appellees’ summary judgment motions.

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s summary judgment de novo. Mann Frankfort Stein & Lipp Advisors, Inc. v. Fielding, 289 S.W.3d 844, 848 (Tex.2009). Our review is limited to consideration of the evidence presented to the trial court. Mathis v. Restoration Builders, Inc., 231 S.W.3d 47, 52 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet.). When a summary judgment fails to specify the grounds that the trial court relied upon for its ruling, we may affirm the judgment if any of the grounds advanced is meritorious. Carr v. Brasher, 776 S.W.2d 567, 569 (Tex.1989); Prize Energy Resources, L.P. v. Cliff Hoskins, Inc., 345 S.W.3d 537, 556 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2011, no pet.).

A no-evidence motion for summary judgment is essentially a pretrial [743]*743motion for directed verdict, and we apply the same legal sufficiency standard. Gray v. Woodville Health Care Center, 225 S.W.3d 613, 616 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2006, pet. denied). Accordingly, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and disregard any contrary evidence and inferences. King Ranch, Inc. v. Chapman, 118 S.W.3d 742, 750-51 (Tex.2003). A movant for a no-evidence summary judgment must state which essential elements are without any evidentiary support. Aguilar v. Morales, 162 S.W.3d 825, 834 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2005, pet. denied). The nonmovant must then produce evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact on each challenged element. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(i); Aguilar, 162 S.W.3d at 834. The nonmovant meets his burden when he produces more than a mere scintilla of evidence supporting each challenged element. See Gray, 225 S.W.3d at 616. More than a scintilla of evidence exists when the evidence would permit reasonable and fair-minded people to differ in their conclusions. King Ranch, Inc., 118 S.W.3d at 751.

However, less than a scintilla of evidence exists when the evidence is so weak that it does no more than create a surmise or a suspicion of a fact. Id. A fact question exists when the summary judgment record contains inconsistent or conflicting summary judgment proof. Rankin v. Union Pac. R. Co., 319 S.W.3d 58, 67 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2010, no pet.). When a nonmovant presents more than a scintilla of probative evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact, a no-evidence summary judgment is improper. Smith v. O’Donnell, 288 S.W.3d 417, 424 (Tex.2009); compare Ford Motor Co. v. Ridgway, 135 S.W.3d 598, 600 (Tex.2004) (trial court properly granted summary judgment where plaintiffs failed to produce more than a scintilla of evidence on an essential element of their claim).

A party seeking a traditional summary judgment bears the burden of showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(c); Diversicare Gen. Partner., Inc. v. Rubio, 185 S.W.3d 842, 846 (Tex.2005). If the movant meets this burden, the burden then shifts to the nonmovant to produce evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact. City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d 671, 678-79 (Tex.1979). A defendant who conclusively negates a single essential element of a cause of action or conclusively establishes an affirmative defense is entitled to summary judgment on that claim. Frost Nat. Bank v. Fernandez, 315 S.W.3d 494, 509 (Tex.2010).

UNCHALLENGED RULINGS

As an initial matter, Appellees point out that although Appellant has challenged the summary judgment in its entirety, Appellant does not challenge the summary judgment as to its tortious interference claim on appeal. Therefore, Ap-pellees assert that the grounds raised to defeat Appellant’s claim must be presumed to be valid. Appellant concedes that is has not challenged the summary judgment on its claim for tortious interference.

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404 S.W.3d 737, 35 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1436, 2013 WL 2250704, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 6299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cuidado-casero-home-health-of-el-paso-inc-v-ayuda-home-health-care-texapp-2013.