Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. Orozco

669 S.W.2d 427, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5380
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 13, 1984
DocketNo. 07-82-0355-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 669 S.W.2d 427 (Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. Orozco) 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
Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. Orozco, 669 S.W.2d 427, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5380 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

COUNTISS, Justice.

This is a venue dispute in a workers’ compensation case. Appellant Texas Employers’ Insurance Association challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and pleadings to support the trial court’s order transferring the case. Additionally, it suggests the suit should be abated, not transferred, if the trial court’s order is otherwise sustained. We affirm.

Appellee Jose T. Orozco was injured in an industrial accident on December 3, 1979. He filed a claim with the Industrial Accident Board, and the Board rendered its final decision on October 9, 1981. Orozco filed suit to set aside the Board’s award on October 14, 1981, in Webb County, his alleged county of residence. T.E.I.A. filed suit to set aside the Board’s award on October 26, 1981, in Lubbock County, the county where the injury occurred. Orozco then filed a plea of privilege requesting transfer of the Lubbock County case to Webb County. T.E.I.A. controverted the plea but, after a hearing, the trial court sustained it and transferred the Lubbock County case to Webb County. T.E.I.A. attacks the order by six points of error, five directed to evidentiary deficiencies and the sixth to a pleading deficiency. By points one and two, it contends it conclusively established Lubbock County as Orozco’s residence and the location of the injury. By point three, it contends it established Orozco’s Lubbock County residence by the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. By points five and six T.E.I.A. says the evidence is factually and legally insufficient to support the trial court’s implied finding that Orozco resided in Webb County when injured. By its remaining point, T.E.I.A. contends Orozco’s pleadings will not support the relief granted. In arguing the point it suggests that, in any event, the suit should be abated instead of transferred because venue is proper in Lubbock County. Initially, we will resolve points five and six.

Venue in a workers' compensation case is controlled by article 8307, § 5, Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. (Vernon Supp.1984), [430]*430which permits any interested party not willing to abide by the Industrial Accident Board’s decision to “bring suit in the county where the injury occurred, or in the county where the employee resided at the time the injury occurred .... ” Id.; see also Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 8307a (Vernon Supp.1984). Originally, under article 8307, § 5,1 the county where the injury occurred was the only proper forum. Oilmen’s Reciprocal Ass’n v. Franklin, 116 Tex. 59, 286 S.W. 195, 196-97 (1926). However, in 1977, the Legislature expanded venue by adding a provision permitting suit in the county of the employee’s residence. Thus, a workers’ compensation case may now be properly filed in either the county of injury or the county of the worker’s residence when injured. Inevitably, a race to the courthouse occurs as each party seeks to litigate in what is perceived to be the most favorable forum. To resolve the problems created by the choice of forums, the courts have established various guidelines, summarized as follows:

(1) A suit filed before the final award by the Board is a nullity, subject to dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. Garcia v. Texas Emp. Ins. Ass’n, 597 S.W.2d 519, 520 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1980, writ ref'd n.r.e.).
(2) After the final award by the Board, a party can file suit in either of the permissible forums, Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Jones, 580 S.W.2d 889, 890 (Tex.Civ.App.— Eastland 1979, no writ).
(3) After the final award by the Board, the first court where suit is filed, if it is a court of competent jurisdiction and one of the permissible forums, acquires the prior right to exercise active jurisdiction over the case and no other court in which a suit is subsequently filed has the right to interfere. Andrews v. Utica Mut. Ins. Co., 647 S.W.2d 22, 25 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, writ dism’d); Tex. Emp. Ins. Ass’n v. Baeza, 584 S.W.2d 317, 320 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1979, no writ).
(4) If only one suit is filed, and it is in a permissible forum, the other party is not entitled to have the suit transferred to another permissible forum. Sauceda v. Home Indem. Co., 631 S.W.2d 256, 257 (Tex.App.—Eastland 1982, writ dism’d).
(5) Although there is disagreement over the name to give the instrument by which a transfer is sought, compare Plains Ins. Co. v. Acuna, 614 S.W.2d 885, 889 (Tex.Civ.App.—Eastland 1981, no writ) (motion to transfer) with United States Fire Ins. Co. v. Alvarez, 608 S.W.2d 264, 266 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1980, writ dism’d) (plea of privilege), the courts consistently transfer the cause, instead of abating it, if another court has the prior right to exercise active jurisdiction over the cause. See, e.g., Andrews v. Utica Mut. Ins. Co., supra; Plains Ins. Co. v. Acuna, supra2

The trial court applied the foregoing principles, to the extent applicable, in resolving the venue issues in this case. It did so on a record that conclusively established Lubbock County as the site of the injury and Webb County as the site where the first suit was filed. Thus, in order to transfer the case to Webb County the trial court necessarily made the implied finding that Orozco was a resident of Webb County when the injury occurred, and the sufficiency of the evidence to support that finding is the determinative issue in this appeal. T.E. I.A.’s contention that the evidence is legally insufficient because Orozco produced no evidence that he resided in Webb County when injured, requires us to examine the record to determine whether there is any probative evidence to support the court’s action, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965). The Association’s contention that the evidence is factually insufficient to establish Orozco’s residence in [431]*431Webb County when injured requires us to examine the entire record to determine whether there is some probative evidence to support the court's action and whether, considering all of the evidence, the finding is not manifestly unjust. Garza v. Alviar, supra; In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660, 661-62 (1951).

After reviewing the evidence under the foregoing standards, we are satisfied the trial court did not err. Residence is primarily a matter of present intention, but volition and action are also elements to be considered. Mills v. Bartlett, 377 S.W.2d 636, 637 (Tex.1964).

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Related

Cooks v. City of Gladewater
808 S.W.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Texas Employers' Insurance Ass'n v. Orozco
681 S.W.2d 245 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)

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669 S.W.2d 427, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-employers-insurance-assn-v-orozco-texapp-1984.