Parker v. Three Rivers Flying Service, Inc.

220 S.W.3d 160, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1597, 2007 WL 632709
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 1, 2007
Docket11-05-00220-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 220 S.W.3d 160 (Parker v. Three Rivers Flying Service, 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
Parker v. Three Rivers Flying Service, Inc., 220 S.W.3d 160, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1597, 2007 WL 632709 (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

TERRY MeCALL, Justice.

Joyce and Bruce Parker brought this personal injury action against the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Inc.; Three Rivers Flying Service, Inc.; and Harold Griffith Flying Service, Inc. The Parkers’ claims arose in connection with aerial pesticide applications. In an earlier accelerated appeal, this court upheld the trial court’s order dismissing the Foundation from the suit on sovereign immunity grounds. 1 In this appeal, the Parkers contend that the trial court erred in granting Three Rivers’s and Harold Griffith’s motions for summary judgment. We affirm.

Background

The Texas Legislature has recognized that the insects known as the boll weevil and the boll worm are menaces to the Texas cotton industry and that their eradication is a matter of public necessity. See Tex. AgRIC. Code Ann. § 74.101 (Vernon Supp.2006). The legislature has designated the Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, as the entity to plan, carry out, and operate eradication programs to eliminate these insects. See Tex. Agrio. Code Ann. § 74.1011 (Vernon 2004). In an effort to eradicate these insects, the Foundation employs aerial sprayers, such as Three Rivers and Harold Griffith, to disperse insecticides on cotton crops. The Foundation entered into contracts with Three Rivers and Harold Griffith for the aerial application of the insecticide malathion. Under the contracts, Three Rivers and Harold Griffith are independent contractors of the Foundation. See Parker v. Tex. Boll Weevil Eradication Found., Inc., No. 11-04-00085-CV, 2005 WL 309562, *4 (Tex.App.-Eastland, Feb. 10, 2005, petdenied).

This cause involves two separate aerial applications. The Parkers alleged that on June 7, 2001, Three Rivers was negligent in performing an application of malathion and that on September 19, 2003, Harold Griffith was negligent in performing an application of malathion. The Parkers also alleged that Joyce Parker was exposed to malathion as a result of the negligence and that she suffered personal injuries as a result of the exposures.

On December 24, 2003, Harold Griffith filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment. In the motion, Harold Griffith asserted that there was no evidence that it was negligent in performing the aerial application in question and that there was no evidence that the alleged exposure to malathion caused any injury or damages to the Parkers. On January 9, 2004, Three Rivers filed a traditional motion for summary judgment and a no-evidence motion for summary judgment. In the no-evidence motion, Three Rivers asserted that there was no evidence (1) that it was negligent in performing the aerial application in question, (2) that it breached any duty to the Parkers, and (3) that it caused the Parkers’ alleged damages. In the traditional motion, Three Rivers asserted that it was entitled to sovereign immunity. On March 11, 2004, the trial court entered an order staying and abating this cause pending the resolution of the Parkers’ accelerated appeal against the Foundation. The abatement order provided that matters contrary to the abatement could be conducted by a Rule 11 agreement between the parties. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 11. On June 2, 2005, during the abatement period, the trial court entered its order granting *163 summary judgment to Three Rivers and to Harold Griffith. The trial court’s order granting summary judgment did not specify the ground or grounds relied on for its ruling.

Issues Presented

The Parkers present five issues for review. In their first three issues, the Par-kers contend that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for the following reasons: (1) the abatement order precluded the trial court from ruling on the motions for summary judgment during the abatement period; (2) the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur precluded summary judgment; and (3) the summary judgment evidence raised fact issues on their claims. In their fourth issue, the Parkers assert that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the extent it granted summary judgment on sovereign immunity grounds. In their fifth issue, the Parkers contend that Three Rivers and Harold Griffith waived their objections to the summary judgment evidence by failing to obtain a written ruling on the objections.

Abatement Issue

The Parkers argue that the trial court’s order granting summary judgment was void and a legal nullity because the trial court signed the order during the abatement period. The Parkers rely on In re Kimball Hill Homes Texas, Inc., 969 S.W.2d 522, 527 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.), and Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Garza, 777 S.W.2d 198, 199 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1989, no pet.). These cases stand for the proposition that the abatement of a case precludes the trial court from going forward on the case and prohibits the parties from proceeding in any manner in the case until the case has been reinstated. Kimball Hill Homes, 969 S.W.2d at 527; Garza, 777 S.W.2d at 199. The courts in these cases recognized that the trial court has discretion in drafting abatement orders to allow the court and the parties to proceed on matters as specified in the abatement order. Kimball Hill Homes, 969 S.W.2d at 527 (“Unless otherwise specified in the abatement order, any action taken by the court or the parties during the abatement is a legal nullity.”); Lumbermens, 777 S.W.2d at 199 (“Of course, a trial court may, in its discretion, draft an abatement order which would allow the parties to file discovery requests.”).

In this cause, the trial court’s abatement order related to the Parkers’ accelerated appeal against the Foundation. The order provided that all deadlines and trial settings were to be held in abeyance pending the resolution of the appeal between the Parkers and the Foundation. The order also specifically provided that “[ajdditional matters contrary to this Order may be conducted by Rule 11 agreement between all of the parties.” Therefore, the language in the order clearly allowed the trial court and the parties to proceed with the motions for summary judgment “by Rule 11 agreement.” Based on the reasoning in Kimball Hill Homes and Lumbermens, the trial court had the discretion to draft the abatement order in this fashion. Kimball Hill Homes, 969 S.W.2d at 527; Garza, 777 S.W.2d at 199.

An agreement may comply with Rule 11 in either of two ways: (1) be in writing, signed, and filed with the papers as part of the court’s record or (2) be made in open court and entered of record. See Rule 11; Breceda v. Whi, 187 S.W.3d 148, 153 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2006, no pet.). The record in this cause supports the conclusion that the Parkers’ counsel agreed to go forward on *164 the motions for summary judgment. 2

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220 S.W.3d 160, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1597, 2007 WL 632709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-three-rivers-flying-service-inc-texapp-2007.