St. Paul Companies v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc.

798 S.W.2d 4, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1367, 1990 WL 75706
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 7, 1990
Docket01-89-00472-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 798 S.W.2d 4 (St. Paul Companies v. Chevron U.S.A., 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
St. Paul Companies v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 798 S.W.2d 4, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1367, 1990 WL 75706 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

WARREN, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment rendered for Chevron against St. Paul Companies on an insurance policy.

The question involved is whether St. Paul breached its duty to defend and insure Chevron under the terms of a policy issued to Devonian Well Services, Inc.

In October 1979, by written contract, Devonian agreed to perform certain oil well services for Chevron. By its terms, the contract was to continue in effect until terminated by either of the parties. As part of the contract, Devonian agreed:

*5 to protect, defend, indemnify and save [Chevron] harmless from all loss, damage, or expense whether or not such loss, damage, or expense is caused by or results from the sole or concurrent negligence of an agent, employee, or independent contractor of [Chevron]....

To insure itself against the liability it incurred because of the preceeding paragraph, in August 1984, Devonian purchased an insurance policy from St. Paul. Among other things, St. Paul’s insurance policy agreed to pay on behalf of Devonian:

In 1984, an employee of Devonian, Morris Cook, was killed in an oil field accident while working on a Chevron oil well. Cook’s parents sued Chevron, in cause number A-72,729, filed in Ector County, Texas. Under the terms of the contract with Devonian, Chevron tendered its defense to Devonian. St. Paul initially assumed the defense of Chevron, but later withdrew. Soon thereafter, Chevron settled the case for $175,000.

Devonian declared bankruptcy after the suit was settled. In consideration of Chevron waiving its right to file a proof of claim in Devonian’s bankruptcy proceeding, or, in any manner, attempting to enforce the indemnity clause against Devonian, Devonian agreed to assign any cause of action it had against St. Paul to Chevron. Under the terms of that assignment, Chevron sued St. Paul on April 13, 1988.

Attached to Chevron’s original petition were copies of relevant documents including the contract between Devonian and Chevron, the assignment of Devonian’s cause of action to Chevron, and correspondence from St. Paul to Chevron, withdrawing its defense in the Cook case. St. Paul answered with a general denial and affirmative defenses, alleging that the suit was barred by various statutes of limitation and the doctrine of laches.

Both parties moved for summary judgment and filed responses to the other party’s motion. The court denied St. Paul’s motion for summary judgment, and granted Chevron’s motion. On January 31,1989, the court signed the final summary judgment order, and found that St. Paul owed Chevron the sum of $182,712.19, representing the $175,000 settlement paid, plus $7,712.19 in attorney’s fees.

In two related points of error, St. Paul argues that: (1) the court erred in granting Chevron’s motion for summary judgment because there were genuine issues of material fact; and (2) the court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment, because it had shown that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. We will consider both points of error together.

The only exception to the rule that orders denying summary judgments are not appealable is where both parties move for summary judgment, and the court grants one of the motions and overrules the other. Tobin v. Garcia, 159 Tex. 58, 64, 316 S.W.2d 396, 400-401 (1958). When both parties file motions for summary judgment, and one is granted and the other overruled, the appellate court may determine all questions presented, including the propriety of the order overruling the losing party’s motion. Jones v. Strauss, 745 S.W.2d 898, 900 (Tex.1988); Teledyne Isotopes, Inc. v. Bravenec, 640 S.W.2d 387, 389 (Tex.App.— Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, writ ref’d n.r.e.). On appeal, the proper course is for the appellate court to render judgment on the motion that should have been granted. Buckner Glass & Mirror, Inc. v. T.A. Pritchard Co., 697 S.W.2d 712, 714 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1985, no writ).

In Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.1970), the supreme court set out the standard of appellate review for summary judgments:

[T]he question on appeal, as well as in the trial court, is not whether the summary judgment proof raises fact issues with reference to the essential elements of a plaintiff’s claim or cause of action, *6 but is whether the summary judgment proof establishes as a matter of law that there is no genuine issue of fact as to one or more of the essential elements of the plaintiff’s cause of action.

Id. at 828.

The rules to be followed by an appellate court in reviewing a summary judgment record are set forth by the supreme court in Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Co., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985), as follows:

1. The movant for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
2. In deciding whether or not there is a disputed material fact issue precluding summary judgment, evidence favorable to the nonmovant will be taken as true.
3. Every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the nonmovants and any doubts resolved in their favor.

The appellate court may consider only the evidence on file before the trial court at the time of the hearing. Gandara v. Novasad, 752 S.W.2d 740, 743 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1988, no writ). When both parties move for summary judgment, however, and each produces evidence in support of their motion, the trial court may consider the combined summary judgment evidence in determining whether it is proper to grant one motion and overrule the other. River Oaks Shopping Center v. Pagan, 712 S.W.2d 190, 193 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The same, rules should be applied to determine whether either of the motions should be granted.

St. Paul’s summary judgment evidence consisted of: (1) Chevron’s amended response to St. Paul’s request for production and interrogatories; and (2) the affidavit of Ruth Lazson, underwriter for St. Paul, which attests that the copy of St.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
798 S.W.2d 4, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 1367, 1990 WL 75706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-paul-companies-v-chevron-usa-inc-texapp-1990.