Mose A. Guillory and Mary Guillory v. Seaton LLC D/B/A Staff Management

470 S.W.3d 237
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 10, 2015
DocketNO. 01-14-00379-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 470 S.W.3d 237 (Mose A. Guillory and Mary Guillory v. Seaton LLC D/B/A Staff Management) 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
Mose A. Guillory and Mary Guillory v. Seaton LLC D/B/A Staff Management, 470 S.W.3d 237 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

OPINION

Harvey Brown, Justice

Mose A. Guillory and Mary Guillory (“Guillory”) appeal the dismissal of their lawsuit against Seaton, LLC (“Seaton”) under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 91a. In three issues, Guillory challenges (1) the Texas Supreme Court’s statutory authority .to promulgate Rule 91a, (2) the constitutionality of Rule 91a, and (3) the trial court’s no-basis-in-law dismissal of their negligent-undertaking claim. We affirm.

Background

Seaton entered into a service-provider contract with Waste Management. Seaton agreed to provide “the Staff Management solution” — a set of “integrated managed service provider solution services ... [to] assist [Waste Management] with the effective and efficient management of non-employee workers .procured from certain third party vendors....” One of those vendors, iWorks, was under contract with Waste Management to provide workers for Waste Management facilities. Under that contract, iWorks agreed to train the workers it provided. Under a later agreement between iWorks and Waste Management, [240]*240Waste Management agreed to provide training in the use of heavy equipment.

Guillory was an employee of iWorks assigned to a Waste Management facility in Houston. He was injured while operating the Harris Baler, a device that compresses recyclable paper, plastic, and metal into small bales. According to Guillory’s petition, the Harris Baler comes with a 200-page operation manual and a 25-minute safety video. Guillory also alleged that OSHA regulations mandate safety training before operating the device. Guillory alleged that he was not shown the operation manual or the safety video and that he received no training on the operation of the Harris Baler except for some informal “instructions” from a fellow co-worker who did not speak the same language as Guillo-ry.

Guillory sued Seaton, iWorks, Waste Management, and various other defendants. He asserted the following causes of action against Seaton: negligent undertaking, negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision, general negligence, gross negligence, and breach of contract. Seaton filed a Rule 91a motion to dismiss each of these causes of action for having no basis in law. The trial court granted the motion and severed Guillory’s claims against Seaton so that the dismissal would be a final, appealable judgment. Guillory timely appealed.

Rule 91a

Rule 91a authorizes dismissal of lawsuits that have no basis in law or fact. Tex R. Giv. P. 91a.l. Seaton’s motion asserted a no-basis-in-law challenge. “A cause of action. has no basis in law if the allegations, taken as true, together with inferences reasonably drawn from them, do not entitle the claimant to the relief sought.” Tex R. Civ. P. 91a.l.

Courts have concluded that a cause of action has no basis in law under Rule 91a in at least two situations. In the first situation, the petition alleges too few facts to demonstrate a viable, legally cognizable right to relief. See DeVoll v. Demonbreun, No. 04-14-00116-CV, — S.W.3d —,—, 2014 WL 7440314, at *3 (Tex. App.-San Antonio Dec. 31, 2014, no. pet.) (“Because DeVoll did not allege facts demonstrating reliance or harm, his fraud claim has no basis in law.”); Drake v. Chase Bank, No. 02-13-00340-CV, 2014 WL 6493411, at *1 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth Nov. 20, 2014, no. pet. h.) (mem.op.) (“Drake pleaded no underlying claim or facts that would support an award of damages for harm to his credit.... Thus, Drake’s harm-to-credit claim has no basis in law.”). In the second situation, the petition alleges additional facts that, if true, bar recovery. See Dailey, 445 S.W.3d at 789 (breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim had no basis in law because pleaded facts affirmatively demonstrated that alleged breach occurred after fiduciary relationship ceased); Wooley v. Schaffer, 447 S.W.3d 71, 80-81 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2014, pet. filed) (Frost, C.J., concurring) (“The allegations in Wooley’s live pleading ... would not entitle Wooley to the damages he seeks in each of his causes of action under this court’s precedent applying an expansive interpretation of the Peeler doctrine.... [Njone of Wooley’s causes of action has any basis in law.”). In short, the plaintiff must plead sufficient facts to supply a legal basis for his claim but not so much that he affirmatively negates his right to relief.

Dismissal of the Negligent-Undertaking Claim

In his third issue, Guillory contends that the trial court improperly dismissed his claim against Seaton for negligent under[241]*241taking under Rule 91a.1

A. Standard of review

We review a dismissal under Rule 91a de novo. Dailey v. Thorpe, 445 S.W.3d 785, 788 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2014, no pet.). We look only to “the pleading of the cause of action, together with any pleading exhibits” and do not consider any other part of the record. Tex. R. Civ. P. 91a.

B. Establishing a negligent-undertaking claim

To establish a negligent undertaking, a plaintiff must demonstrate that “(1) the defendant undertook to perform services that it knew or should have known were necessary for the plaintiffs protection; (2) the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care in performing those services; and either (a) the plaintiff relied upon the defendant’s performance, or (b) the defendant’s performance increased the plaintiffs risk of harm.” Nall v. Plunkett, 404 S.W.3d 552, 555-56 (Tex.2013); see Restatement (Second) of Toets § 324A (providing rule for liability to third person for negligent performance of undertaking); Colonial Sav. Ass’n v. Taylor, 544 S.W.2d 116, 120 (Tex.1976) (adopting Restatement). The undertaking may be gratuitous or for consideration, and a contractual obligation may be an undertaking so long as it is accompanied by at least partial performance or reliance. See Fort Bend Cnty. Drainage Dist. v. Sbrusch, 818 S.W.2d 392, 397 (Tex.1991).

C. Does Guillory's negligent-undertaking claim have “no basis in law”?

Guillory contends that the petition and the evidence attached to it demonstrate a legal basis for the claim that Seaton undertook a duty either by (1) contractually agreeing to ensure iWorks or Waste Management trained Guillory or (2) undertaking to actually provide training to Guillory.

Guillory’s petition included numerous deposition excerpts, quoted promotional material, and other evidence inserted directly into the pleading. He attached the contract between Waste Management and Seaton (“the Seaton contract”) and the contract between Waste Management and iWorks (“the iWorks contract”) to his petition. There is no objection in the record to the inclusion of any of this evidence. We may look to both the petition and the attached exhibits in determining whether Guillory has asserted a negligent-undertaking claim with .a basis in law. See Dailey, 445 S.W.3d at 788.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
470 S.W.3d 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mose-a-guillory-and-mary-guillory-v-seaton-llc-dba-staff-management-texapp-2015.