Uranga v. Texas Workforce Commission

319 S.W.3d 787, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1273, 2010 WL 636962
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 24, 2010
Docket08-08-00048-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 319 S.W.3d 787 (Uranga v. Texas Workforce Commission) 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
Uranga v. Texas Workforce Commission, 319 S.W.3d 787, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1273, 2010 WL 636962 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

Victor Uranga, pro se, appeals from a summary judgment granted in favor of the Texas Workforce Commission and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Victor Uranga was employed by Nationwide Mutual Insurance in El Paso, Texas, as a Financed Agent from January 6, 2003 until November 8, 2005. According to Nationwide, a Financed Agent is an employee-agent who builds an insurance agency to the point where the agency is financially self-supporting, at which time the Financed Agent becomes an independent contractor. Uranga’s duties included managing staff,- acquiring new policy holders, and servicing existing policyholders. In June 2005, Uranga’s manager, Sanford Scott, met with Uranga to address his poor job performance. Despite that meeting, Uranga continued to under-perform over the course of the next two months. Scott set up meetings with Uranga on three different dates in September and October, but Uranga either asked to reschedule or did not appear. When Uranga did not attend the third meeting, Scott left a voice mail instructing Uranga to call him immediately. Uranga failed to return the call. Through further investigation, Scott learned that Uranga had been absent from the office for most of August and September and that he had removed computer equipment and all of his personal belongings from the El Paso office. Scott concluded that Uranga had abandoned his position of employment with Nationwide. On November 7, 2005, Scott wrote a letter to Uranga informing him that Nationwide considered his employment to have ended.

Uranga filed a claim for unemployment benefits. TWC determined that Uranga was disqualified under Section 207.045 of the Texas Labor Code because he had voluntarily resigned his employment with *789 out good cause connected with the work. Uranga appealed but the Texas Workforce Commission Appeal Tribunal affirmed the decision denying Uranga unemployment benefits on the ground he was disqualified. Uranga appealed again but TWC affirmed the Appeal Tribunal’s decision. Uranga then filed suit in district court against TWC and Nationwide seeking judicial review of TWC’s decision.

TWC and Nationwide filed a joint motion for summary judgment urging that the case is limited to a substantial evidence review and there was more than a scintilla of evidence supporting TWC’s decision. Uranga filed a response and attached evidence, but the trial court sustained Nationwide’s objections to a compact disc (Exhibit A) and excluded it from consideration. The trial court granted the joint motion for summary judgment and this appeal follows.

DENIAL OF TRIAL DE NOVO

In his first issue, Uranga contends that the trial court denied him a trial de novo because it failed to make a full and fair determination of the TWC decision and his Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

Fair Labor Standards Act Claims

We will first address Uranga’s argument that the trial court denied him a trial on his Fair Labor Standards Act claims. The record does not support his assertion that he has made an independent claim under FLSA. The TWC’s decision shows that Uranga argued that he resigned with good cause because he had been required to work overtime without compensation, but there is nothing to indicate Uranga ever presented an independent claim under FLSA. Uranga’s pleadings in the trial court are limited to seeking judicial review of TWC’s decision on his unemployment benefits. The only relief he sought was a determination that TWC’s decision was erroneous and a finding he was entitled to unemployment benefits. The first part of Uranga’s argument is without merit. We turn now to review the propriety of the summary judgment granted in favor of Nationwide and TWC.

Substantial Evidence Review

The trial court reviews a TWC decision regarding benefit payments de novo to determine whether there is substantial evidence to support that decision. Tex.Lab.Code Ann. § 212.202(a) (Vernon 2006); Collingsworth General Hospital v. Hunnicutt, 988 S.W.2d 706, 708 (Tex.1998). TWC’s ruling carries a presumption of validity, and the party seeking to set aside the decision has the burden to show that it was not supported by substantial evidence. Collingsworth General Hospital, 988 S.W.2d at 708. Under the substantial evidence standard of review, the issue is whether the evidence introduced before the trial court shows facts in existence at the time of TWC’s decision that reasonably support the decision. Id. The reviewing court may not set aside a TWC decision merely because it would reach a different conclusion. Id. It may do so only if it finds that TWC’s decision was made without regard to the law or the facts and therefore was unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious. Id.

Whether TWC’s decision is supported by substantial evidence is strictly a question of law. Mercer v. Ross, 701 S.W.2d 830, 831 (Tex.1986). Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla of evidence but less than a preponderance of evidence. City of Houston v. Tippy, 991 S.W.2d 330, 334 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, no pet.). Consequently, the evidence may preponderate against TWC’s decision but still amount to substantial evidence. Id.

*790 Summary Judgment Standard of Review

In a summary judgment case, the issue on appeal is whether the movant met the summary judgment burden by establishing that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(c). We review all summary judgments de novo. Valence Operating Company v. Dorsett, 164 S.W.3d 656, 661 (Tex.2005). The standard for reviewing a traditional summary judgment is well established: (1) the movant must demonstrate 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 a disputed issue of material fact exists that would preclude summary judgment, we take all evidence favorable to the non-movant as true; and (3) we indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in favor of the non-movant. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Company, Inc., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985).

Substantial Evidence Supports TWC’s Decision as a Matter of Law

The issue before us is whether the summary judgment evidence established as a matter of law that substantial evidence existed to support TWC’s decision.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
319 S.W.3d 787, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1273, 2010 WL 636962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/uranga-v-texas-workforce-commission-texapp-2010.