In re Liberty Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co.

557 S.W.3d 851
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 16, 2018
DocketNO. 14-18-00315-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 557 S.W.3d 851 (In re Liberty Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co.) 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
In re Liberty Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co., 557 S.W.3d 851 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Ken Wise, Justice

On April 18, 2018, Liberty County Mutual Insurance Company ("Liberty" or "Defendant") filed a petition for writ of mandamus in this court. See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 22.221 (West Supp. 2017); see also Tex. R. App. P. 52. In the petition, Liberty asks this court to compel the Honorable Kyle Carter, presiding judge of the 125th District Court of Harris County, to vacate his order compelling Liberty to present a designated representative for deposition to testify on topics identified in the order. We conditionally grant relief.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The underlying suit arises out of injuries the real party-in-interest Robert Perry ("Plaintiff") allegedly sustained during a *854five-vehicle collision that occurred on February 24, 2017. Plaintiff alleges that an 18-wheeler truck struck another vehicle which, in turn, struck Plaintiff's vehicle. Plaintiff then struck a car in front of his, which, in turn, collided with the fifth vehicle in the line. The driver of the truck-who Plaintiff maintains is responsible for the accident-left the scene without providing any information.

At the time of the accident, Plaintiff was insured under an automobile insurance policy underwritten by Liberty (the "Policy"). Among other things, the Policy provides uninsured/underinsured motorist ("UIM") coverage. The Policy's UIM provision provides that Liberty will pay damages which an insured is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle because of: (1) bodily injury sustained by that insured and caused by an accident; or (2) property damage caused by an accident.

Plaintiff filed suit against Liberty to recover UIM benefits under the Policy. Plaintiff alleges that the unidentified truck driver caused the underlying accident by driving negligently, and that because the truck driver is unidentified, the accident qualifies as an uninsured event. Plaintiff's Original Petition asserts causes of action against Liberty for breach of contract and violations of the Texas Insurance Code based on Liberty's failure to pay UIM benefits.

Liberty filed a motion to sever and abate, asking the court to sever all direct contractual and extra-contractual claims against Liberty into a separate action and to abate these claims. The trial court partially granted the motion, and severed the extra-contractual claims, but permitted discovery to proceed unabated.

Plaintiff noticed the deposition of Liberty's corporate representative for December 4, 2017, to testify on the topics identified in the notice.

Liberty filed a motion to quash the deposition and a motion for protection. Liberty objected to the deposition as overbroad, harassing, and irrelevant. Plaintiff filed a motion to compel the deposition.

After hearing the parties' motions, the trial court modified and signed Plaintiff's proposed order, which denied the motion to quash and the motion for protection and partially granted Plaintiff's motion to compel (the "Deposition Order"). The Deposition Order, which is the subject of this mandamus proceeding, ordered Liberty to present a designated representative or employee with knowledge of relevant facts for deposition to testify on the following topics:1

1. Any policy of insurance issued or underwritten by the Defendant applicable to the collision in question.
2. The occurrence or non-occurrence of all conditions precedent under the contract, including but not limited to coverage by the Defendant, collision with an uninsured motorist, injury to the Plaintiff, and compliance by the Plaintiff with the terms and conditions of his policy.
3. Mr. Perry's damages caused by the collision in question.
4. The facts supporting the legal theories and defenses listed in Liberty's Responses to Plaintiff's Request for Disclosure, including but not limited to:
a. Defendant's limitation of liability;
b. The amount of any offset or credit to which Defendant alleges it is entitled;
*855c. Plaintiff's pre-existing injuries and conditions and/or subsequent and intervening injuries and conditions;
d. The amounts of any limitation or reduction Defendant will allege under Sec. 41.0105 and 18.091 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code ;
e. Plaintiff's failure to mitigate his damages by failing to follow his doctor's instructions and seek appropriate treatment for his injuries; and
f. How the crash occurred.
5. Defendant's sworn interrogatory answers.
6. Defendant's responses to request for production.
7. Defendant's responses to request for disclosure.
8. Defendant's live pleadings on file.

MANDAMUS STANDARD

To obtain mandamus relief, a relator generally must show both that the trial court clearly abused its discretion and that relator has no adequate remedy by appeal. In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. , 148 S.W.3d 124, 135-36 (Tex. 2004) (orig. proceeding). A trial court clearly abuses its discretion if it reaches a decision so arbitrary and unreasonable as to amount to a clear and prejudicial error of law or if it clearly fails to analyze the law correctly or apply the law correctly to the facts. In re Cerberus Capital Mgmt. L.P. , 164 S.W.3d 379, 382 (Tex. 2005) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam). We review the trial court's legal conclusions with limited deference. See Walker v. Packer , 827 S.W.2d 833, 840 (Tex. 1992) (orig. proceeding). The relator must establish that the trial court could reasonably have reached only one decision. Id.

"A discovery order that compels production beyond the rules of procedure is an abuse of discretion for which mandamus is the proper remedy." In re Nat'l Lloyds Ins. Co. , 507 S.W.3d 219, 223 (Tex. 2016) (orig. proceeding).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
557 S.W.3d 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-liberty-cnty-mut-ins-co-texapp-2018.