Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Ass'n v. Council of Co-Owners of Saida II Towers Condominium Ass'n

706 S.W.2d 644, 29 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 257, 1986 Tex. LEXIS 532
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 5, 1986
DocketC-4576
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 706 S.W.2d 644 (Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Ass'n v. Council of Co-Owners of Saida II Towers Condominium Ass'n) 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
Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Ass'n v. Council of Co-Owners of Saida II Towers Condominium Ass'n, 706 S.W.2d 644, 29 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 257, 1986 Tex. LEXIS 532 (Tex. 1986).

Opinions

OPINION

HILL, Chief Justice.

Various property owners insured by the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Association seek review of an order of the State Board of Insurance denying them recovery for damage done to their property by Hurricane Allen. Each claimant filed a petition in a Travis County District Court seeking “trial de novo” review of the State Board of Insurance’s decision. The trial court dismissed each case for want of jurisdiction because the property owners had failed to join the State Board of Insurance as a party-defendant within the time required by the Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 6252-13a, § 19(b) (Vernon Supp. 1986). The court of appeals reversed and remanded, holding that the State Board of Insurance had no authority to hear the [645]*645property owners’ claims and that the trial court had jurisdiction of the “common law” claims asserted by the property owners. 696 S.W.2d 60. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

The TCPIA was created by the Texas Legislature in 1971, pursuant to the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Pool Act, to provide, among other things, insurance for property owners in designated areas of the State of Texas where risk of hurricane is great. See Beacon National Insurance Co. v. Texas State Board of Insurance, 582 S.W.2d 616, 617 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1979, writ ref’d n.r.e.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 829, 101 S.Ct. 96, 66 L.Ed.2d 33 (1980). See also Tex.Ins. Code Ann. art. 21.49, § 1 (Vernon 1981). Pursuant to the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Pool Act, the State Board of Insurance has designated fourteen Texas counties along or near the Gulf Coast as the catastrophe area. TCPIA membership is required of all insurance companies authorized to write property insurance in Texas, with certain limited exceptions. Id. § 4.

A complex formula for the allocation of risk of loss among TCPIA members is outlined in the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Pool Act. Id. § 5(c) (Vernon Supp.1986). A particular member’s allocation increases in proportion to the amount of certain types of insurance written outside the catastrophe area by the member, and decreases in proportion to that member’s voluntary writing of windstorm policies within the catastrophe area.

The Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Pool Act requires the State Board of Insurance to supervise all of TCPIA’s operations and gives it the general authority to “issue any orders which it considers necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.” Id. § 5A(a) (Vernon 1981). Additionally, the State Board of Insurance is given the authority to hear appeals by “[a]ny person insured pursuant to this Act ... who may be aggrieved by an act, ruling or decision of the [TCPIA]....” Id. § 9.

Each of the claimants herein, insured by the TCPIA, timely filed appeals to the State Board of Insurance after the TCPIA refused to compensate them for damage to their properties caused by Hurricane Allen. The State Board of Insurance subsequently issued final orders holding that one claimant was entitled to recover $12,371.75 and that the others were not entitled to recover on their policy claims. Within thirty days after their motions for rehearing had been overruled by the State Board of Insurance, each claimant filed a petition in Travis County District Court seeking de novo review of the State Board of Insurance’s decision. The TCPIA was the sole defendant named in each petition. The TCPIA filed a general denial and a plea to the jurisdiction in each case on the grounds that each claimant’s petition failed to name the State Board of Insurance as defendant, as required by Tex.Ins.Code Ann. art. 1.04(f) (Vernon 1981). Each claimant then filed an amended petition naming the State Board of Insurance as a defendant. The State Board of Insurance answered with a plea to the jurisdiction, contending that claimants failed to name it as a party-defendant within the time required by the APTRA. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6252-13a, § 19(b) (Vernon Supp.1986). The trial court sustained the TCPIA’s and the State Board of Insurance’s pleas and dismissed each case for want of jurisdiction. The cases were subsequently consolidated on appeal.

When the Legislature creates an administrative agency, it may also prescribe rules and regulations governing the administrative body and the method by which the rights determined by such body will be enforced, including the procedures for obtaining judicial review of final agency decisions. See City of Amarillo v. Hancock, 150 Tex. 231, 234, 239 S.W.2d 788, 790 (1951); Rowden v. Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Association, 677 S.W.2d 83, 87 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

The Legislature has done precisely this with regard to the State Board of [646]*646Insurance’s supervision of the TCPIA, by (1) creating the TCPIA, (2) creating the claimant’s right to participate in the windstorm plan, (3) authorizing the State Board of Insurance to administer the windstorm plan, and (4) creating the right and procedure to contest claims decisions made under the statutory plan. Tex.Ins. Code Ann. art. 21.49, §§ 1, 4(a), 5A(a), 6, and 9 (Vernon 1981). We have long recognized that if a cause of action and remedy for its enforcement are derived not from the common law but from a statute, the statutory provisions are mandatory and exclusive, and must be complied with in all respects or the action is not maintainable. Mingus v. Wadley, 115 Tex. 551, 558, 285 S.W. 1084, 1087 (1926); Alpha Petroleum Co. v. Terrell, 122 Tex. 257, 265-66, 59 S.W.2d 364, 367-68 (1933). Accord Merida v. Texas Municipal Retirement System, 597 S.W.2d 55, 57 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1980, no writ). The right of a property owner in the catastrophe area to participate in the windstorm insurance plan and to obtain any benefit from the plan does not derive from the common law, but rather solely from the provisions of the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Pool Act. We therefore hold that, in seeking to enforce rights to such statutory insurance benefits, the insured must comply with the Insurance Code and the APTRA. See Mingus v. Wadley, 115 Tex. at 557-58, 285 S.W. at 1087.

The APTRA sets forth the procedure for the institution of an administrative appeal, which controls unless otherwise provided by statute. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6252-13a, § 19 (Vernon Supp.1986). Section 19(b) provides that “[proceedings for review are initiated by a petition [filed in a District Court of Travis County, Texas] within thirty days after the decision complained of is final and appealable.” Id. § 19(b). The Insurance Code mandates additional procedures applicable to appeals from final decisions of the State Board of Insurance. Article 1.04(f) of the Insurance Code reads:

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706 S.W.2d 644, 29 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 257, 1986 Tex. LEXIS 532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-catastrophe-property-insurance-assn-v-council-of-co-owners-of-saida-tex-1986.