The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently reaffirmed that "[t]he fact that a lawyer serves as both an advocate and a witness does not, standing alone, compel disqualification."  Here, the court also restated the well-settled rule that disqualification of counsel is subject to mandamus.  The court reiterated that Rule 3.08 only requires disqualification if the

I have been waiting and watching for post-Haygood opinions, and the Amarillo Court of Appeals delivered a great opinion this week with Henderson v. Spann.  In a 2-1 opinion, the panel held that the trial court’s admission of unadjusted medical bills and exclusion of adjusted medical bills constituted reversible error even though the trial court

In Port Elevator-Brownsville, L.L.C. v. Casados, the Texas Supreme Court reaffirmed this State’s prohibition on split workforces (i.e., Texas employers are not permitted to cover some but not all employees with worker’s compensation insurance if the employer is a subscriber), and confirmed that a temporary employee is covered by the employer’s comp policy (and subject to the comp bar) even if the employer took steps to intentionally exclude the temporary employee from coverage (such as not paying premiums for such employees or not including a classification for temporary employees under the policy).

Practitioners on both sides of the bar that deal with personal injury and wrongful death claims should take note of this opinion because it confirms what many in the defense bar have been arguing for a number of years.  But coverage attorneys should also take note because one key point in the Court’s analysis was its acceptance of a rule set out by the Amarillo Court of Appeals in 1940 — that "premiums are an issue between the employer and the insurer; they do not affect the employee’s coverage." (Slip op. at 9) (citing Tex. Employers’ Ins. Ass’n v. Stanton, 140 S.W.2d 337, 339-40 (Tex. Civ. App.–Amarillo 1940, writ ref’d).Continue Reading Texas Supreme Court confirms that temporary employees are subject to the comp bar