in Re Wyatt Field Service Company

454 S.W.3d 145, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 13769, 2014 WL 7366037
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 23, 2014·No. NO. 14-14-00275-CV·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION

Martha Hill Jamison, Justice

This case presents our court its opportunity to address the next of the unintended consequences wrought on Texas mandamus practice due to the holding in In Re Columbia: exactly what is a “merits review,” and how does an intermediate appellate court apply it to evaluate the “great weight and preponderance of the evidence”?

Real parties in interest, David McBride and Glenn Burns, sustained personal injuries due to an accident at a refinery owned by ExxonMobil Corporation in Baytown, Texas. Real parties sued relator, Wyatt Field Services Company, and ExxonMobil. Real parties settled with ExxonMobil prior to trial and argued that Wyatt was solely responsible for the accident. The jury returned a verdict that Wyatt was not negligent, but ExxonMobil was solely responsible for real parties’ injuries. On real parties’ motion, the Honorable Kyle Carter, presiding judge of the 125th District Court of Harris County, signed a new trial order in favor of real parties on March 3, 2014. The trial court’s new trial order and the findings of fact reflect that the bases for granting a new trial are (1) the jury’s findings that ExxonMobil was negligent and Wyatt was not were against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence; and (2) Wyatt’s repeated injection of collateral source evidence into the case violated the motion in limine and tainted the jury’s verdict.

Wyatt filed a petition for writ of mandamus on September 16, 2013, challenging the new trial order. We denied Wyatt’s petition because it had not provided the entire trial record and, therefore, we could not ascertain whether the trial court had abused its discretion in granting a new trial. See In re Wyatt Field, Serv. Co., No. 14-13-00811-CV, 2013 WL 6506749, at *3 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] Dec. 10, 2013, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.).

[149]*149Wyatt filed the current petition for writ of mandamus, which includes the entire trial record. Wyatt again challenges the new trial order and requests that we compel the trial court to vacate its March 3, 2014 order and render judgment on the jury’s verdict. See Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 22.221 (West 2004); see also Tex. R. App. P. 52. We conditionally grant the petition.

I. Standards of Review

A. Mandamus Review of New Trial Orders Before and after In re Columbia

To be entitled to mandamus relief, a relator must demonstrate (1) the trial court clearly abused its discretion; and (2) the relator has no adequate remedy by appeal. In re Reece, 341 S.W.3d 360, 364 (Tex.2011) (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). “In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion with respect to resolution of factual matters, we may not substitute our judgment for that of the trial court and may not disturb the trial court’s decision unless it is shown to be arbitrary and unreasonable.” In re Sanders, 153 S.W.3d 54, 56 (Tex.2004) (orig.proceeding) (per curiam). In other words, under an abuse of discretion standard, we defer to the trial court’s factual determinations if they are supported by the evidence, but we review the trial court’s legal determinations de novo. In re Labatt Food Serv., L.P., 279 S.W.3d 640, 643 (Tex.2009) (orig.proceeding).

Although acknowledging that Texas trial courts have historically been afforded broad discretion in granting new trials, the Texas Supreme Court, in 2009, held that a trial court abuses its discretion by granting a motion for new trial without providing a reasonably specific explanation of the court’s reasons for setting aside a jury verdict. See In re Columbia Med. Ctr. of Las Colinas, Subsidiary, L.P., 290 S.W.3d 204, 210, 213 (Tex.2009) (orig.proceeding) (holding “that discretion is not limitless”). Thus, the trial court abused its discretion by ordering a new trial based solely on “in the interest of justice” because that reason was not sufficiently specific. Id. at 215.

The long-established rule in Texas is that, except in very limited circumstances, an order granting a motion for new trial rendered within the trial court’s plenary power is not subject to review either by direct appeal from that order or from a final judgment rendered after further proceedings in the trial court. Cummins v. Paisan Constr. Co., 682 S.W.2d 235, 236 (Tex.1984) (per curiam); Hull v. S. Coast Catamarans, L.P., 365 S.W.3d 35, 40 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2011, pet. denied). Before In Re Columbia, only two such circumstances had been identified: (1) when the trial court’s order was wholly void; and (2) when the trial court erroneously concluded that the jury’s answers to special issues were irreconcilably in conflict. 290 S.W.3d at 208-09; see also Wilkins v. Methodist Health Care Sys., 160 S.W.3d 559, 563 (Tex.2005).1 The court in [150]*150Columbia held the long-established rule, which denies aggrieved parties an adequate remedy by appeal, demonstrates why mandamus relief must be afforded in what it described as “exceptional circumstances” — the protection of the right to a jury trial.2 290 S.W.3d at 210.

Subsequently, the Texas Supreme Court articulated a two-prong test for determining whether a trial court abused its discretion in granting a new trial. See In re United Scaffolding, Inc., 377 S.W.3d 685 (Tex.2012) (orig.proceeding). A trial court does not abuse its discretion so long as its stated reason for granting a new trial (1) is a reason for which a new trial is legally appropriate (such as a well-defined legal standard or a defect that probably resulted in an improper verdict); and (2) is specific enough to indicate that the trial court did not simply parrot a pro forma template, but rather derived the articulated reasons from the particular facts and circumstances of the case at hand. Id. at 688-89.

More recently, the supreme court held that an appellate court may conduct a “merits review” of the correctness of a new trial order setting aside a jury verdict that facially comports with Columbia and United Scaffolding. In re Toyota Motor Sales, USA., Inc., 407 S.W.3d 746, 757-59 (Tex.2013) (orig.proceeding).3 Specifically, the court explained that, if, despite conformity with the procedural requirements of its precedent, a trial court’s articulated reasons are not “actually true,” the new trial order may be an abuse of discretion. Id. at 758.

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in Re Wyatt Field Service Company, 454 S.W.3d 145, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 13769, 2014 WL 7366037 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

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