Medicaid Liens. While Federal Medicaid law requires States to seek reimbursement of medical payments from responsible third parties, the anti-lien provisions of that law prevent a State from asserting a lien on anything more than that portion of the injured party’s settlement proceeds representing medical expenses, even when the actual Medicaid payments exceed the portion of the total settlement that "represents payments for medical care." Here, the parties allocated one-sixth of the settlement for medical expenses and accordingly the correct Medicaid reimbursement was one-sixth of the Medicaid payments. Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services et al v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S.__, (2006).

Arbitration. Arbitrators and their sponsoring organizations are immune from civil liability for bias and the failure to disclose a possible source of bias. Pullara v. Am. Arbitration Ass'n, __ S.W.3rd__(Tex. App. -- Texarkana, 5/11/06). PDF version.

Insurance. Party A is named as an additional insured under Party B’s CGL insurance policy. Party B also purchased an excess insurance policy. Party A qualifies as an “insured” under two separate definitions of the term in the excess policy: one definition limits coverage to the scope of coverage afforded by the underlying policy while the other definition contains no such limitation. The Texas Supreme Court holds that the coverage limitations in one definition cannot be avoided by resort to a second definition of “insured” affording broader coverage. Evanston Insurance Co. v. Atofino Petrochemicals Inc. __ S.W.3rd __ (Tex. 5/5/06) PDF version

Legal Malpractice. Joint Independent Executors of estate bring a claim against attorneys who prepared the Will claiming that poor estate planning resulted in avoidable tax liability. The Texas Supreme Court confirms prior decisions holding that beneficiaries damaged by estate planning mistakes have no legal malpractice cause of action, but holds that the personal representative(s) of the estate may maintain a legal malpractice claim on behalf of the estate against the decendent's estate planners. Belt et al v. Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, Inc. et al. __ S.W.3rd __ (Tex. 5/5/06)

Personal Injury Extrinsic evidence to establish the plaintiff’s subjective understanding of the scope of a pre-injury release was not admissible because that would undermine both the express negligence and the parol evidence rules. Sydlik v. REEIII, Inc. dba Curves for Women, __S.W.3rd__(Tex. App.-- Houston [14th Dist.] 5/18/06)

Procedure. Since the discovery of trade secrets requires a showing that the information is necessary to adjudicate existing claims or defenses it will be difficult, if not impossible, to meet that showing in a Rule 202 pre-suit deposition (and it was not met in this case). In re Hewlett Packard, __S.W.__(Tex. App. -- Austin 5/12/06)

Employment/Defamation. The Director of the Youth Ministry for the United Methodist church functioned in a ministerial capacity and, therefore, under the “ministerial exception” derived from the Separation Clause of the First Amendment the termination of his employment was not subject to “secular review” in court of law; the courts do have jurisdiction, however, of any defamatory statements made about him after the Church’s employment decision was final as they were not of an ecclesiastic nature. Patton v. Jones et al, __S.W.3rd__ (Tex. App.—Austin 5/11/06)

Corporations Under the Texas Business Organization Code, a shareholder may not be held liable for contractual obligations of the corporation on a theory of implied ratification of the agreement by acceptance of benefits. Willis v. Donnelly, __S.W.3rd__(Tex. 6/2/06) PDF version.

The Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee is considering an amendment to TRCP 21 which would enlarge the notice requirement for motions from 3 days to 10 days.

Proposed Amendment

To Comment:

Contact Jody Hughes, rules attorney 512.463.1353 or click for email

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