On April 9, the Texas Supreme Court granted petitions for review in the following cases:
- Offshore Specialty Fabricators v. Wellington Underwriting Associates. The case addresses whether an all-risk insurance policy covers weather stand-by charges incurred by the insured.
- XTO Energy Inc. v. Smith Production Inc. The case will determine whether joint operating agreements for oil and gas drilling operations are construed according to their language only or whether industry custom should also be considered. A possibly fundamental case in the oil and gas field.
- Haygood v. de Escabedo. This case turns on whether the statute limiting recovery of medical damages to those “actually incurred” permits recovery of amounts charged but later written off by the provider. The courts of appeals are divided on the issue, which arises in many personal injury cases.
- Reid Road Municipal Utility Dist. No. 2 v. Speedy Stop Food Stores Inc. The case will determine whether the “property owner rule” which permits property owners who are not qualified as experts to testify as to the market value of the property applies to corporate property owners.
- Andrade v. NAACP of Austin. The underlying case is a challenge to the Secretary of State’s certification of certain paperless voting machines. The case addresses whether voters have standing to challenge the Secretary’s certification and whether the Secretary enjoys sovereign immunity from such a suit.
- Marsh USA Inc. v. Cook. The case turns on the enforceability of non-solicitation agreements upon a former employee and whether the agreement was supported by independent consideration.
Oral argument has not yet been set for any of these cases.