Harris County Self-Insured v. Levent Dogan, 01-19-01006-CV

On March 9, 2016, Levent Dogan suffered a heart attack while running during Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy training; he underwent catheterization and placement of four stents.
Dogan filed a workers’ compensation claim; a hearing officer and the administrative appeals panel found the heart attack was not compensable and that Dogan had no disability.
Dogan sought judicial review; a jury found he sustained a compensable heart attack and the trial court entered judgment finding compensability and disability from March 10, 2016 to July 10, 2016.
Before entry, Dogan served two proposed final judgments on the Division of Workers’ Compensation: one on August 30, 2019 (timely) and a revised version on September 23, 2019 (7 days before entry).
Texas Labor Code §410.258 requires any proposed judgment to be filed with the Division at least 30 days before the court is scheduled to enter judgment and provides that a judgment entered without complying is void.
The court of appeals held Dogan failed to timely file the version actually signed by the court, rendering the trial-court judgment void, and dismissed the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by entering judgment that Dogan suffered a disability when no jury question on disability was requested or submitted	Dogan asserted the court could enter judgment/issue findings supporting disability and had submitted proposed findings and judgments	Harris County argued judgment on disability was improper because no jury question was requested or submitted	Not reached on merits — appeal dismissed because trial-court judgment held void under §410.258
Whether submission of a liability question phrased as whether Dogan suffered an “injury” was erroneous	Dogan defended the form of the liability question as proper to resolve compensability	Harris County argued the liability question was improper as submitted	Not reached on merits — appeal dismissed because trial-court judgment held void under §410.258
Whether Dogan complied with Labor Code §410.258 by filing the proposed judgment with the Division at least 30 days before entry	Dogan noted he served an earlier proposed judgment timely and served the revised proposed judgment before entry	Harris County argued the actually signed proposed judgment was not filed 30 days before entry, so the judgment is void	Held for Harris County: Dogan failed to timely file the judgment actually signed; noncompliance with §410.258 rendered the judgment void; appeal dismissed

Univ. of Tex. Sys. v. Thomas, 464 S.W.3d 754 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2015, no pet.) (holds §410.258 notice requirement is mandatory and failure to comply renders judgment void)
Metro. Transit Auth. v. Jackson, 212 S.W.3d 797 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, pet. denied) (same: statute is mandatory and jurisdictional; judgment entered without compliance is void)
Clewis v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Am., 287 S.W.3d 197 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2009, no pet.) (contrast: court held §410.258 notice may not apply to judgments entered after fully adversarial proceedings)
Tex. Prop. & Cas. Ins. Guar. Ass’n v. Brooks, 269 S.W.3d 645 (Tex. App.—Austin 2008, no pet.) (contrast: court treated notice requirement as inapplicable in some post-adversarial judgments)