IN RE GILBERTO GONZALES
No. 20-0506
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS
March 5, 2021
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
In this mandamus proceeding, Gilberto Gonzales challenges a trial-court order allowing Houston Distributing Company to designate an unknown person as a responsible third party. Although the court of appeals denied Gonzales‘s mandamus petition, we conclude he is entitled to relief.
Gonzales sued Houston Distributing for negligently causing an automobile accident. Gonzales alleged that a truck driver employed by Houston Distributing caused the accident by rear-ending a pickup truck behind Gonzales, which then rear-ended Gonzales‘s pickup truck, which then rear-ended the car in front of him. Houston Distributing filed an original answer on June 28, 2017, asserting a general denial and that Gonzales was comparatively responsible for causing the accident.
On November 10, 2017, one hundred and thirty-five days after filing its original answer, Houston Distributing filed a motion for leave to designate an unknown person, referred to as “John Doe,” as a responsible third party. See
Within fifteen days1 after Houston Distributing filed its motion for leave to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party, Gonzales filed objections to and a motion to strike Houston Distributing‘s
More than two years later, in March 2020, Houston Distributing filed its first amended original answer, which still did not include allegations that John Doe or any other “unknown person” was responsible for causing the accident. Two days later, Gonzales filed a combined no-evidence and traditional summary-judgment motion as to John Doe‘s alleged negligence, arguing that Houston Distributing could not submit John Doe‘s responsibility to the jury because it did not timely or adequately satisfy section 33.004(j)‘s pleading requirements.2 In response, Houston Distributing filed a second amended answer, pleading for the first time that an “unknown third party-John Doe, was a proximate and/or contributing cause to Plaintiff‘s injuries and/or damages.”
Specifically, Houston Distributing alleged in this answer that “John Doe cut in front of the truck, thereby causing [Houston Distributing‘s driver] to strike” the second vehicle, which “then struck Plaintiff‘s vehicle.”3
The trial court denied Gonzales‘s summary-judgment motion. Gonzales then filed a petition for writ of mandamus, which the court of appeals summarily denied. See In re Gonzales, No. 01-20-00380-CV, 2020 WL 3456603, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] June 25, 2020, orig. proceeding) (per curiam). Gonzales then petitioned this Court for relief, challenging the trial court‘s order granting Houston Distributing‘s motion for leave to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party and its order denying summary judgment as to John Doe‘s alleged negligence.
“A writ of mandamus will issue if a trial court abuses its discretion and no adequate remedy by appeal exists.” In re C.J.C., 603 S.W.3d 804, 811 (Tex. 2020) (citing In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 148 S.W.3d 124, 135–36 (Tex. 2004) (orig. proceeding)). A trial court that fails to properly apply a statutory requirement abuses its discretion because courts have “no ‘discretion’ in determining what the law is or applying the law to the facts,” even when the law is unsettled. Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 840 (Tex. 1992). Here, the applicable law is found in section 33.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which governs the designation of responsible third parties. See
Subsection (a) of section 33.004 provides that a defendant who desires to designate “a person” as a responsible third party must file a motion for leave on or before the sixtieth day before a trial date, unless the court finds good cause to allow the motion at a later date.
“Notwithstanding” any of these provisions, subsection (j) governs the designation of an ”unknown person as a responsible third party.”
- the court determines that the defendant has pleaded facts sufficient for the court to determine that there is a reasonable probability that the act of the unknown person was criminal;
- the defendant has stated in the answer all identifying characteristics of the unknown person, known at the time of the answer; and
- the allegation satisfies the pleading requirements of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
Houston Distributing indisputably failed to satisfy subsection (j)‘s predicate requirement. It did not file any amended answer until more than two years and eight months after it filed its original answer, and that amended answer contained no allegations about any “unknown” responsible third party. Its second amended answer, filed nearly three weeks later, alleged that an unknown person caused the accident, but it did not allege that John Doe committed a criminal act or describe any of John Doe‘s identifying characteristics. Because Houston Distributing did not timely and adequately satisfy these pleading requirements, subsection (j) did not permit the trial court to grant leave for Houston Distributing to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party.
Houston Distributing argues that subsection (j) does not provide the exclusive means by which a defendant may designate an unknown person as a responsible third party. Because subsection (a), which requires a defendant to file its motion for leave to designate “a person” as a responsible third party at least sixty days before a trial date, also allows the court to permit a later motion on a finding of good cause, see
We disagree. Subsection (j) is the only subsection that addresses the requirements
Contrasting subsection (j) with subsections (f) and (g) confirms this construction. Subsections (f) and (g) require that trial courts grant a defendant‘s motion for leave to designate a “named person” as a responsible third party unless another party objects within fifteen days and establishes that the defendant “failed to plead sufficient facts concerning the alleged responsibility of the person,” even after having been given an opportunity to replead those facts.
This construction is also consistent with the statute‘s recognition of the effects of designating an unknown person as a responsible third party. As we recently explained, the statute generally prohibits defendants from designating a named person as a responsible third party after limitations has run on the plaintiff‘s claims against that person because such a designation would create “an imbalance in the proportionate-responsibility framework” by preventing the plaintiff “from seeking recovery on the basis of that third party‘s fault.” In re Dawson, 550 S.W.3d 625, 628 (Tex. 2018) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam) (addressing
The statute prevents such imbalances in the proportionate-responsibility framework by putting in place “restrictions on a defendant‘s ability to designate a responsible third party.” Id. at 629. Subsection (j) imposes such a restriction by requiring defendants to timely satisfy specific pleading requirements regarding unknown responsible third parties. See
Because Houston Distributing did not timely or adequately satisfy subsection (j)‘s pleading requirements, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by granting Houston Distributing‘s motion for leave to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party. Nevertheless, we will not grant Gonzales mandamus relief “if there is a ‘clear and adequate remedy at law, such as a normal appeal.‘” In re H.E.B. Grocery Co., L.P., 492 S.W.3d 300, 304 (Tex. 2016) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam). An appellate remedy is “adequate” when any benefits of mandamus review are outweighed by the detriments. Prudential, 148 S.W.3d at 136. The “most frequent use we have made of mandamus relief involves cases in which the very act of proceeding to trial—regardless of the outcome—would defeat the substantive right involved.” In re McAllen Med. Ctr., 275 S.W.3d 458, 465 (Tex. 2008) (orig. proceeding).
We have analyzed the adequacy of an appellate remedy in two cases involving the designation of responsible third parties. In the first, we held that “no adequate remedy by appeal ordinarily exists” when a trial court erroneously denies a defendant‘s motion for leave to designate a responsible third party. In re Coppola, 535 S.W.3d 506, 509 (Tex. 2017) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam). We explained in Coppola that “[a]llowing a case to proceed to trial despite erroneous denial of a responsible-third-party designation ‘would skew the proceedings, potentially affect the outcome of the litigation, and compromise the presentation
More recently, we held in Dawson that an ordinary appeal would be inadequate to protect the rights of a plaintiff when the trial court erroneously grants a defendant‘s belated motion for leave to designate a time-barred responsible third party. See Dawson, 550 S.W.3d at 630. Just as we held in Coppola that mandamus was appropriate to protect a defendant‘s right to have the jury determine the responsibility of all properly named responsible parties, we held in Dawson that mandamus was appropriate to protect a plaintiff‘s right “to not have to try her case against an empty chair” when the defendant fails to timely designate a third party. Id. at 629.
Dawson controls the outcome here. Although Dawson involved a defendant‘s failure to timely designate a named third party under subsection (d), while this case involves a defendant‘s failure to timely plead an unknown third party‘s responsibility under subsection (j), the principles involved are the same. In both cases, the defendants moved for leave to designate a responsible third party from whom the plaintiffs could not recover, creating an imbalance in the proportionate-responsibility framework. In both cases, the defendants did not satisfy section 33.004‘s provisions that protect a plaintiff‘s right not to try the case against an empty chair. And in both cases, the trial courts abused their discretion by granting the defendants’ motions. If Dawson was an appropriate case to grant mandamus relief, then so is this one; requiring Gonzales to go through a trial before remedying the trial court‘s error would defeat the substantive right that subsection (j) protects.
Because the trial court failed to properly apply section 33.004, it abused its discretion by granting Houston Distributing‘s motion for leave to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party. And Gonzales does not have an adequate remedy at law, rendering mandamus relief appropriate. Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52.8(c), without hearing oral argument, we conditionally grant Gonzales mandamus relief and direct the trial court to vacate its order granting Houston Distributing‘s motion to designate John Doe as an unknown responsible third party. Our writ will issue only if the court fails to comply.
Opinion delivered: March 5, 2021
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