Juan Carlos Flores v. Chasco, Inc. A/K/A Chasco Interiors, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 16, 2016
Docket05-14-00531-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Juan Carlos Flores v. Chasco, Inc. A/K/A Chasco Interiors, Inc. (Juan Carlos Flores v. Chasco, Inc. A/K/A Chasco Interiors, Inc.) 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
Juan Carlos Flores v. Chasco, Inc. A/K/A Chasco Interiors, Inc., (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed August 16, 2016.

S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-14-00531-CV

JUAN CARLOS FLORES, Appellant V. CHASCO, INC. A/K/A CHASCO INTERIORS, INC., ET AL., Appellees

On Appeal from the 160th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DC-09-14912-H

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Lang-Miers, Brown, and Schenck Opinion by Justice Schenck After he was injured while working at a construction site, appellant Juan Carlos Flores

sued appellees Chasco Inc. a/k/a Chasco Interiors, Inc., 24 Hour Ltd., and ICI Construction, Inc.

Appellees each moved separately for summary judgment, and the trial court granted the motions.

In this appeal, Flores contends the trial court abused its discretion in failing to sustain his

objections and special exceptions to ICI’s and 24 Hour’s summary judgment motions and

evidence and erred in granting all appellees’ motions for summary judgment. We affirm the trial

court’s judgment.

Background

In July 2008, Flores was installing an HVAC system in a warehouse. He and a co-worker

were working together to install duct work inside the building. Flores was seriously injured when a scissor lift he was using fell over while extended. Flores sued appellees and others

involved in the construction project.

Alcatel USA Sourcing, Inc. had hired appellee ICI as the general contractor to finish out

the warehouse for use as Alcatel’s distribution center. In his pleadings, Flores alleged that he

was hired by Nationwide HVAC Services, Inc. to work on the warehouse HVAC system and that

appellee 24 Hour, a subcontractor on the project, hired Nationwide as an independent contractor.

Appellee Chasco, who was also working in the warehouse installing sheetrock, had leased the

scissor lift to use there. Flores asserted causes of action against ICI, 24 Hour, and Chasco for

negligence, negligence per se, and gross negligence and alleged they acted with malice toward

him. He also asserted a cause of action based on section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of

Torts. Flores further alleged OSHA violations, but to the extent he considered their alleged

violation an independent cause of action, he has not complained on appeal about the summary

judgment against him on that claim. Additionally, Flores asserted claims against 24 Hour and

ICI for premises liability. Flores also sued Alcatel, Nationwide, H&E Equipment Services, Inc.,

which is the company that leased the scissor lift to Chasco, and the company that leased the

building to Alcatel. These defendants are not parties to this appeal.

24 Hour, ICI, and Chasco each moved separately for summary judgment. 24 Hour

moved for traditional summary judgment on grounds that Flores’s exclusive remedy was through

the workers’ compensation act. ICI and Chasco filed traditional and no-evidence summary

judgment motions. Flores filed objections and special exceptions to all three appellees’ summary

judgment motions. The trial court did not expressly rule on Flores’s objections and special

exceptions. The court granted appellees’ summary judgment motions. This appeal followed.

–2– Summary Judgment for 24 Hour

In part of his second issue, Flores contends the trial court erred when it granted 24 Hour’s

motion for summary judgment. 24 Hour filed a traditional motion for summary judgment

asserting it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 24 Hour alleged that at the time of his

injuries, Flores was 24 Hour’s borrowed servant. 24 Hour is a workers’ compensation

subscriber. It thus maintained that Flores’s exclusive remedy was under the provisions of the

workers’ compensation act. Flores maintains fact issues exist regarding whether he was a

borrowed servant.

The standard of review in traditional summary judgment cases is well established. Wesby

v. Act Pipe & Supply, Inc., 199 S.W.3d 614, 616 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2006, no pet.) (citing

Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Knott, 128 S.W.3d 211, 215–16 (Tex. 2003)). The issue on

appeal is whether the movant met its summary judgment burden by establishing that no genuine

issue of material fact exists and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. TEX. R.

CIV. P. 166a(c); Wesby, 199 S.W.3d at 616. The movant bears the burden of proof and all doubts

about the existence of a genuine issue of material fact are resolved against the movant. Wesby,

199 S.W.3d at 616 (citing Nixon v. Mr. Prop. Mgmt. Co., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548–49 (Tex. 1985)).

All evidence and any reasonable inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable to the

nonmovant. Id. Evidence favoring the movant’s position will not be considered unless it is not

controverted. Id.

A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if it conclusively negates an essential

element of the plaintiff's case or conclusively establishes all necessary elements of an affirmative

defense. Id. (citing Cathey v. Booth, 900 S.W.2d 339, 341 (Tex. 1995)). A properly pleaded

affirmative defense, supported by uncontroverted summary judgment evidence, may serve as the

–3– basis for a summary judgment. Id.; see TEX. R. CIV. P. 94. The exclusive remedy provision of

the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act is an affirmative defense. Wesby, 199 S.W.3d at 617.

After the movant produces evidence entitling it to summary judgment, the burden then

shifts to the nonmovant to present evidence of any issues that would preclude summary judgment

or create a fact issue. Id. Summary judgment will be affirmed only if the record established that

the movant conclusively proved all elements of its affirmative defense as a matter of law. Id.

(citing City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d 671, 678 (Tex. 1979)).

Texas has long recognized that a general employee of one employer may become

the borrowed servant of another. Id. A borrowed servant is properly covered by the borrowing

employer’s workers’ compensation insurance. Id. Thus, to prevail on

the borrowed servant affirmative defense, the employer must plead and prove that (1) the

employee was a borrowed servant; (2) the employee was entitled to workers’ compensation

benefits; and (3) the employer had workers’ compensation insurance that covered the claims

asserted by the borrowed servant. Id. at 617–18. Of these elements, Flores challenges only

whether 24 Hour established that he was its borrowed servant.

As summary judgment evidence, 24 Hour presented portions of Flores’s deposition. In it,

Flores testified that he began working for Nationwide in March 2008. (Flores referred to

Nationwide as “AC” in his deposition.) Nationwide would send him out to a location to work for

24 Hour. 24 Hour would direct his work, tell him what needed to be done, and what work to do.

24 Hour would tell him when to start and stop, as well as supervise him throughout the day.

When he was working at the warehouse in question, someone with 24 Hour told him what to do

and when to start and stop. He worked from 7a.m. to 4p.m. at the warehouse. At the warehouse,

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