Lexington Insurance Company, as Subrogee of Burr Computer Environments, Inc. and J. Supor and Sons Trucking and Rigging Co. v. Daybreak Express, Inc.

393 S.W.3d 242, 56 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 233, 2013 WL 275965, 2013 Tex. LEXIS 68
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 2013
Docket11-0597
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 393 S.W.3d 242 (Lexington Insurance Company, as Subrogee of Burr Computer Environments, Inc. and J. Supor and Sons Trucking and Rigging Co. v. Daybreak Express, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lexington Insurance Company, as Subrogee of Burr Computer Environments, Inc. and J. Supor and Sons Trucking and Rigging Co. v. Daybreak Express, Inc., 393 S.W.3d 242, 56 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 233, 2013 WL 275965, 2013 Tex. LEXIS 68 (Tex. 2013).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

We grant in part the limited motion for rehearing by respondent Daybreak Express, Inc., withdraw our opinion of August 31, 2012, and substitute the following opinion in its place.

The principal question in this case is whether, for purposes of Section 16.068 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, an action for cargo damage against a common carrier, brought under the Car-mack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 14706, relates back to an action for breach of an agreement to settle the cargo-damage claim. The an *243 swer depends on whether the cargo-damage claim is, in the words of Section 16.068, “wholly based on a new, distinct, or different transaction or occurrence” than the breach-of-settlement claim. A divided court of appeals held that a cargo-damage claim does not relate back and is therefore barred by limitations. 342 S.W.3d 795 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2011). We disagree and accordingly reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment for the plaintiff.

J. Supor and Son Trucking and Rigging Company engaged respondent Daybreak Express, Inc. to transport computer equipment belonging to Burr Computer Environments, Inc. from New Jersey to Texas. When the shipment arrived, Burr claimed it was damaged. Despite Burr’s contention that Daybreak’s adjuster had agreed on Daybreak’s- behalf to settle the claim for $166,655, Daybreak would pay only $5,420. Burr also asserted a claim against Supor, whose insurer, petitioner Lexington Insurance Co., paid Burr $87,500. Then, as subrogee, Lexington sued Daybreak, but only for breaching the settlement agreement, not for damaging Burr’s equipment.

An interstate carrier’s responsibility for goods it transports is governed by the Carmack Amendment. Enacted in 1906, the Carmack Amendment “supersedes all state laws as to the rights and liabilities and exemptions created by such transaction.” Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U.S. 491, 505, 33 S.Ct. 148, 57 L.Ed. 314 (1913) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because the only action against an interstate common carrier for cargo damage is under federal law, Daybreak removed the case to federal court. It cited Hoskins v. Bekins Van Lines, 343 F.3d 769, 778 (5th Cir.2003), which states:

Congress intended for the Carmack Amendment to provide the exclusive cause of action for loss or damages to goods arising from the interstate transportation of those goods by a common carrier. Accordingly, we hold that the complete pre-emption doctrine applies. Because the Carmack Amendment provides the exclusive cause of action for such claims, ... claims [for such loss or damages] “only arise[] under federal law and [can], therefore, be removed .... ”

(emphasis in original, citation omitted). But the federal court distinguished Hos-kins:

In the present case, by contrast, Lexington does not seek to impose liability on Daybreak for damages arising from the interstate transport of property. Instead, Lexington seeks to enforce an agreement it alleges Daybreak entered into in order to settle claims for damages to a shipment of electrical equipment. Resolution of this contract claim does not turn on the rights and responsibilities of Daybreak as a carrier in interstate commerce. The point of the alleged settlement agreement was precisely that Lexington’s subrogor would not pursue the claims that may fall under the Carmack Amendment. Because this is not a suit to recover for loss or damage to property against a carrier but rather one to enforce a settlement agreement, the case will be remanded to state court.

Lexington Ins. Co. v. Daybreak Express, Inc., 391 F.Supp.2d 538, 541 (S.D.Tex.2005) (footnote omitted).

Although Lexington successfully avoided removal by not asserting a cargo-damage claim, on remand, it amended its petition to assert one. Lexington filed its amended pleading more than four years after Daybreak rejected Burr’s claim, and Daybreak contended the claim was barred by limitations. But Lexington argued that the car *244 go-damage claim related back to its original action for breach of the settlement agreement, which was filed within two years of Daybreak’s rejection of Burr’s claim and not barred by limitations. The relation-back doctrine, codified in Section 16.068, states:

If a filed pleading relates to a cause of action ... that is not subject to a plea of limitation when the pleading is filed, a subsequent amendment or supplement to the pleading that changes the facts or grounds of liability or defense is not subject to a plea of limitation unless the amendment or supplement is wholly based on a new, distinct, or different transaction or occurrence.

Tex. Civ. PRAC. & Rem.Code § 16.068. The trial court agreed with Lexington, and after a bench trial, rendered judgment against Daybreak for $85,800.

A divided court of appeals reversed. 342 S.W.3d 795 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2011). The court held that Section 16.068 applies to a Carmack Amendment claim. Id. at 803-804. Since the parties do not argue to the contrary, we assume this is correct. The majority then concluded that the cargo-damage and breach-of-settlement claims were based on wholly different transactions, one centering on the transport of Burr’s equipment and the other on the existence of a settlement agreement. Id. at 804. Further, the court reasoned, if the shipment and settlement were not different transactions, the Carmack Amendment would preempt the breaeh-of-settlement claim and removal would have been proper.

The expansive reach of complete preemption under the Carmack Amendment means that any cause of action arising from the interstate transportation of goods by a common carrier “is either wholly federal or nothing at all” regardless of how it is labeled.... Lexington’s claim for breach of the purported settlement agreement cannot be both un-preempted and less than wholly distinct from the interstate transportation of goods by a common carrier.

Id. at 806 (quoting Hoskins, 343 F.3d at 773, emphasis in original, internal quotation marks partially omitted).

“Transaction or occurrence” is a concept fundamental to modern civil procedure. See, e.g., Tex.R. Civ. P. 38 (third-party practice), 40 (joinder), 50 (pleading), 97 (counterclaims and cross-claims); Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code § 16.068 (limitations); Barr v. Resolution Trust Corp., 837 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.1992) (res judicata). The United States Supreme Court has observed that “ ‘[transaction’ is a word of flexible meaning.

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393 S.W.3d 242, 56 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 233, 2013 WL 275965, 2013 Tex. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lexington-insurance-company-as-subrogee-of-burr-computer-environments-tex-2013.