Accident Prevention Services Information for Insurance Companies Writing Workers’ Compensation in Texas

As a prerequisite for writing workers’ compensation insurance in Texas, an insurance company must maintain or provide accident prevention facilities that are adequate to provide accident prevention services required by the nature of their policyholder operations. These include surveys, recommendations, training programs, consultations, analysis of accident causes, industrial hygiene, and industrial health services. Applicable statute and rules include the Texas Labor Code (TLC), Chapter 411, Subchapter E and 28 Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Chapter 166. For more information about the accident prevention services requirements, contact the TDI-DWC at 512-804-4626 or aps@tdi.texas.gov.

Annual Reporting Requirements

  • Companies Writing Worker’s Compensation Policies Before October 1, 2013Insurance companies that had active workers’ compensation policies at any time from January 1, 2013 through October 1, 2013 must submit an initial DWC Form-109, Accident Prevention Services Annual Report, to the TDI-DWC by April 1, 2014. Subsequent annual reports must be filed by April 1 of each year thereafter if active policies were in effect for the preceding calendar year.
  • Companies that Start Writing Worker’s Compensation Policies On or After October 1, 2013 

    An insurance company that writes its first workers’ compensation policy on or after October 1, 2013 shall file with the TDI-DWC an initial DWC Form-109, Accident Prevention Services Annual Report,not later than the effective date of its first workers’ compensation insurance policy. Thereafter, they must file a subsequent annual report by April 1 of each year if active policies were in effect for the preceding calendar year.The DWC Form-109 may be submitted to the TDI-DWC via e-mail to aps@tdi.texas.gov.

Accident Prevention Services Inspections

The TDI-DWC determines the adequacy of insurance company accident prevention facilities and services that are required by state law through review of information submitted on the DWC Form-109, Accident Prevention Services Annual Report, and through inspections of an insurance company’s accident prevention services.

As part of the inspection process, the TDI-DWC conducts policyholder visits to help determine the adequacy of the accident prevention services provided by insurance companies. Items reviewed during policyholder visits typically include: the types and confirmation of accident prevention services provided by the insurance company; a review of policyholder written safety programs and work-related injuries and illnesses; and an assessment of safety or health hazards at the worksite.

As determined to be appropriate, the TDI-DWC can remotely inspect an insurance company’s accident prevention services via electronic means. Insurance companies that desire an electronic inspection should notify the TDI-DWC of the request as soon as possible after receipt of the notification of inspection letter and no later than the date the policyholder list is due. Insurance company representatives or their designees must be available by telephone on the day of the inspection. Any information presented electronically by insurance companies will be provided in a manner that does not impede or alter the inspection process and will be in accordance with 28 TAC Chapter 166.

Each insurance company writing workers’ compensation policies will receive an initial inspection. Subsequent inspections will be conducted as often as the TDI-DWC considers necessary to determine compliance with the statute and rules.

Recently Adopted/Repealed Accident Prevention Services Rules

On March 11, 2013, Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Rod Bordelon adopted new 28 TAC §166.2, amended §§166.1, 166.3, and 166.5, and repealed §§166.2, 166.4, and 166.6 – 166.9 regarding Texas Workers’ Compensation Accident Prevention Services. The purpose of these changes is to update various notice, service, and reporting requirements imposed upon insurance companies regarding accident prevention services associated with TLC provisions in Chapter 411, Subchapter E, Accident Prevention Services.

The adopted rules were effective October 1, 2013. The newly adopted rules and associated forms are available on the TDI website.

Return to Workplace Safety main page
Back to DWC Home Page

 

For more information contact: APS@tdi.texas.gov

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

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Workers' Compensation Defense

Workers’ Compensation Resources for Texas Employers–Texas Department of Insurance (TDI)

Workers’ Compensation Resources for Employers

Workers’ compensation is a state-regulated insurance system that provides covered employees with income and medical benefits if they are injured on the job or have a work-related injury or illness. Workers’ compensation insurance coverage limits an employer’s liability if an employee brings suit against the employer for damages. In Texas private employers can choose whether or not to carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage.

Texas employers who do not carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage are required to report their non-coverage status and work-related injuries and occupational diseases to the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC). Employers who do carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage are required to report all known occupational disease and any work-related injuries that result in more than one day of lost time. Employers that fail to meet these requirements commit an administrative violation and may be subject to administrative penalties.

About Workers’ Compensation

Information for Employers with Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage

Information for Employers without Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage

How a Claim Works

Complaint Resolution

 

For more information contact: WorkersCompCustomerServices@tdi.texas.gov

 

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

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Employment Law Defense, Workers' Compensation Defense

Texas Subrogation Clause Basics–Fort Worth, Texas Subrogation Lawyers

A motor vehicle insurance policy’s subrogation agreement gives the insurance company the right to sue for and recover the amount that the insured might have recovered from a person who negligently causes injury. Maryland Casualty v. Jones, 358 S.W.2d 677 (Tex. Civ. App. – 1962, no writ).

Typical Texas standard automobile insurance policy language does include  a clause specifically allowing the insurance company to recover all that it has paid, aside from uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits and personal injury protection (PIP) payments. An insurance company’s right to subrogation derives from right of the insured, and is limited to those rights; there therefore  can be no subrogation where the insured has no cause of action against the defendant because subrogees always stand in the shoes of the one whose rights they claim.

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Collections and Foreign Judgments, Insurance Defense Litigation

Loss of Use Damages in Texas Total Property Loss Claims–Insurance Subrogation Issues–Fort Worth, Texas Subrogation Lawyers

Texas law relies generally on the principles outlined in Hanna v. Lott.  If a vehicle has been totally destroyed, no additional recovery is allowed for the unavailability or loss of use of the property while it is being replaced.  I believe I have previously forwarded you a copy of  Hanna v. Lott.

Insurance companies often take the position that no matter when the determination is made, a total loss is a total loss and the claimant is entitled to no more than the value of the vehicle (and that loss of use damages would therefore not be allowed).

The Mondragon v. Austin case points out that this can result in the inequitable outcome that damages are limited in a total destruction case to the value of the vehicle but cost of repairs plus loss of use damages in a non-total loss case can result in damages that exceed the value of the vehicle. The court states, however that “the difference in the rules exists, however, because courts assume that a person does not suffer loss of use damages when a car is a total loss.  Courts assume that the car can be replaced immediately.  In contrast, we assume a partially damaged car, while repairable, cannot be repaired immediately.”

It is important to point out that Mondragon v. Austin  does not deal with a total loss situation.  In that case, the Defendant stipulated that the appropriate measure of loss of use damages was the value of the car rented on a daily basis.  The Defendant also stipulated to the cost of repairs to the vehicle.

There was no evidence of, and no contention on anyone’s part, that the vehicle had been totally destroyed.

The court only states in dicta “we believe the better policy might be to reconsider permitting loss of use damages in total destruction cases.”  The very fact that the court says “reconsider” suggests that the court is conceding that Texas law does not permit recovery of loss of use damages in total loss situations.

Likewise, the older case Alexander Schroeder Lumber Company v. Merritt case from 1959 does not indicate that it deals with a total loss case.  It, from all appearances, deals with a scenario where a cost of repairs measurement was used where the vehicle was not a total loss.  That is why cost of repairs were also allowed.

The clear message from all of this is that you should always try to make an early determination that a vehicle is a total loss if it appears that the cost to repair plus loss of use damages is going to exceed the total value of the vehicle if considered totaled.

It is not then necessary to pay loss of use damages in a total loss situation.  The law in effect presumes that a vehicle that has sustained a total loss is immediately replaceable.  Insurers can take the position that it does not matter when the determination is made that the vehicle is a total loss, as long as it is made.  Obviously, the sooner the determination is made, the better and the more defensible the position would be.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

 

 

Collections and Foreign Judgments, Insurance Defense Litigation

Enslave the Liberty of But One Human Being and the Liberties of the World Are Put in Peril–Texas Civil Litigation Attorneys

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

 

“Distinctions by race are so evil, so arbitrary and invidious that a state bound to defend the equal protection of the laws must not invoke them in any public sphere” NAACP’s brief, written in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case

 -Thurgood Marshall 

“The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every state in the Union”

-Alexander Hamilton

“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

-Alexis de Tocqueville

“What the government gives, it must first take away.”

– John S. Coleman

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

– Stanislaw J. Lec

“The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.” The Road to Serfdom

– Friedrich A. Hayek

“Breathe there the man with soul so dead, who never to himself has said, this is my own, my native land!”

-Sir Walter Scott

“The World War II generation did what was expected of them. But they never talked about it. It was part of the Code. There’s no more telling metaphor than a guy in a football game who does what’s expected of him-makes an open-field tackle-then gets up and dances around. When Jerry Kramer threw the block that won the Ice Bowl in ’67, he just got up and walked off the field.” The Greatest Generation

-Tom Brokaw

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

― C.S. Lewis

“The question suggests itself: has all this long-continued and intense effort—all this sacrifice…—all this subjection to privation and peril–resulted in no good to the actors themselves? Are they absolutely without reward for their exalted patriotism and active devotion to principle? The answer is—that, so far as anything tangible and material is concerned, they are not only without recompense, but have received instead thereof stripes and punishment, having been ejected from the …enjoyment of…liberty…. But there is a reward of a higher character, which is theirs in an eminent degree—a reward inherent in and inseparable from all noble actions—”that peace above all earthly dignities, a calm and quiet conscience.”

-Llewellyn Shaver

“The man who says America is perfect, is blind to reality. The man who says that Americans must sacrifice their liberties to preserve America, does not love freedom. The man who says America must be destroyed to be saved, is mistaken. The ideals that are America, can be lost as easily by those who take this country for granted as by those who seek to destroy I, for one, reject the concept that America is not worth saving or changing. But the saving and the changing can only come with genuine desire, hard work, dedication, and a strong abiding faith in our fellowmen. If we are, indeed, entering a new era, it must be a time in which we are totally honest with ourselves. It must be a time in which we are totally honest with the young people for whom the mantle of leadership is waiting. The concept that all growth is automatic progress should be cast out.” Texas Governor’s Inaugural Address, 1971

-Preston Smith

“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

– John Stuart Mill

“When Hitler declared war on the United States, he was betting that German soldiers, raised up in the Hitler Youth, would always out fight American soldiers, brought up in the Boy Scouts. He lost that bet. The Boy Scouts had been taught how to figure their way out of their own problems.”

-Stephen Ambrose

“Sirs, you have no reason to be ashamed of your dead; see to it they have no reason to be ashamed of you.”

-Robert Dabney

“As Texans and Americans, we start our quest with advantages undreamed by peoples of other lands. The heritage of freedom is a golden thread unbroken for 180 years of our national life. We were molded not by kings and conquerors, but by the courage and toil of pioneers who saw the wilderness as a challenge, never a barrier.” Texas Governor’s Inaugural Address 1965

-John Connally 

“Take life into your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing. No one to blame.”

-Erica Jong

“At the beginning of a dynasty, taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.”

-Ibn Khaldun

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” The Crisis

-Thomas Paine

“The history of liberty is the history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.”

-Woodrow Wilson

“Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people, and therefore are contrary to our traditions and hence constitutionally suspect.”

-US Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, June 24, 2013

“Personal honor is the one thing that is valued more than life itself by the majority of men.”

-S.L.A. Marshall

“We wish to be remembered. Willing to die, we are not willing to be forgotten.” 1884 Memorial Day Address

-Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Union Army, a combatant at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania July 2, 1863

“Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us. You will retain your civic privileges, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them, and if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they, too, be shunned in turn. Go in peace, I will not take your life, but the life I leave you with is worse than death.”

-Alexis de Tocqueville

“Just last week, I received a letter from a French citizen.  “Dear Mr. President, and the American people,” he wrote, “[we are] honored to welcome you… to thank you again for all the pain and efforts of [the] American people and others in our common struggle for freedom.” 2014 D-Day Commemoration Speech

-Barack H. Obama

“The worst fears of those who would challenge her are now a fact of life—a Federal government completely out of control.”

-Professor Jay Hoar

“The proudest human that walks the earth is a free American citizen.” Speech at the Commercial Club of Chicago, May 21, 1948

-Dwight Eisenhower

“We aren’t ever going to change. We aren’t doing anything wrong…You can throw me in the Colbert County jailhouse. You can throw me off the Wilson Dam. But there isn’t much difference in the man I want to be and the man I really am…”

-Patterson Hood

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.” Letter to Abigail Adams 1787

-Thomas Jefferson

“Any society which suppresses the heritage of its conquered minorities, prevents their history or denies them their symbols, has sown the seeds of their own destruction.” 1281

-Sir William Wallace

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”

-Justice Louis Brandeis

“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

-Milton Friedman

“You have the right to free speech – except, of course, if you’re dumb enough to actually try it.”

-The Clash

“Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril.”

-William Lloyd Garrison

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.”

-Hubert H. Humphrey

“The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.”

-Jimmy Carter

“There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as “caring” and “sensitive” because he wants to expand the government’s charitable programs is merely saying that he’s willing to try to do good with other people’s money. Well, who isn’t? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he’ll do good with his own money – if a gun is held to his head.”

-P.J. O’Rourke

“Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others.”

-William Allen White

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

Interesting Quotes in History

Texas Legislature Statistics

Membership Statistics for the 84th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender *
Male 120 23 143
Female 28 8 36
Total 148 31 179
Party affiliation *
Democrat 51 11 62
Republican 97 20 117
Total 148 31 179
Incumbency **
Incumbents 123 23 146
Freshmen 24 8 32
Total 147 31 178
Age *
Under 30 0 0 0
30 – 39 28 0 28
40 – 49 46 3 49
50 – 59 35 12 47
60 – 69 31 14 45
70 and over 8 2 10
Total 148 31 179

* Gender, party affiliation, and age calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session: 01/13/2015. House Districts 13 and 123 are not included due to pending special elections.

** Incumbent totals include members who served the previous session. Freshmen totals include members whose first terms began the first day of session: 01/13/2015. House members who were elected to the Senate are considered freshmen in the Senate.

    Not included as incumbent or freshman:

  • Rep.Rodney Anderson (first served in 82nd session)

Membership statistics for the 83rd Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate***
Members		 Total
Gender *
Male 119 24 143
Female 31 6 37
Party affiliation *
Democrat 55 11 66
Republican 95 19 114
Incumbency **
Incumbents 106 25 132
Freshmen 41 5 46
Age *
Under 30 2 0 2
30 – 39 25 0 25
40 – 49 43 5 48
50 – 59 46 14 60
60 – 69 30 11 41
70 and over 3 0 3
No response 1 0 1

* Gender, party affiliation, and age calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session: 01/08/2013.

** Incumbent totals include members who served the previous session. Freshman totals include members whose first terms began the first day of session: 01/08/2013.

    Not included as incumbent or freshman:

  • Rep.Abel Herrero (first served in 79th session)
  • Rep.Joseph E. Moody (first served in 81st session)
  • Rep.Chris Turner (first served in 81st session)

*** Senator Mario Gallegos died on 10/16/2012. Election laws required his name to remain on the general election ballot, and he was elected to the 83rd Senate. He is not included in the statistics above.

Updated 01/2013

Membership Statistics for the 82nd Legislature

Description House
Members***		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender *
Male 118 25 143
Female 32 6 38
Party affiliation *
Democrat 49 12 61
Republican 101 19 120
Incumbency **
Incumbents 113 29 142
Freshmen 35 2 37
Age *
Under 30 2 0 2
30 – 39 21 0 21
40 – 49 35 4 39
50 – 59 54 13 67
60 – 69 32 13 45
70 and over 6 1 7

* Gender, party affiliation, and age calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session: 01/11/2011.

** Incumbent totals include members who served the previous session. Freshman totals include members whose first terms began the first day of session: 01/11/2011.

    Not included as incumbent or freshman:

  • Rep. William ‘Bill’ Zedler (first served in 78th session)
  • Rep. Borris Miles (first served in 80th session)
  • Rep. Jim Murphy (first served in 80th session)

*** Rep. Edmund Kuempel died on 11/4/2010. He was elected to the 82nd House of Representatives on 11/2/2010. He is not included in the statistics above.

Membership Statistics for the 81st Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender *
Male 113 25 138
Female 37 6 43
Party affiliation *
Democrat 74 12 86
Republican 76 19 95
Incumbency **
Incumbents 128 29 157
Freshmen 20 2 22
Age *
Under 30 1 0 1
30 – 39 25 1 26
40 – 49 35 3 38
50 – 59 48 20 68
60 – 69 37 7 44
70 and over 4 0 4

* Gender, party affiliation, and age calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session: 01/13/2009.

** Incumbent totals include members who served the previous session. Freshman totals include members whose first terms began the first day of session: 01/13/2009.

    Not included as incumbent or freshman:

  • Rep.Al Edwards (first served in 66th session)
  • Rep.Todd Hunter (first served in 71st session)

Membership Statistics for the 80th Legislature

Description House
Members**		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 117 27 144
Female 32 4 36
Party affiliation
Democrat 69 11 79
Republican 80 20 101
Incumbency ***
Incumbents 125 26 151
Freshmen 23 5 28
Age
Under 30 5 0 5
30 – 39 19 1 20
40 – 49 41 4 45
50 – 59 43 20 63
60 – 69 35 6 41
70 and over 6 0 6

* All calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session: 01/09/2007.

** Rep. Glenda Dawson died on 9/12/2006. Election laws required her name to remain on the general election ballot, and she was elected to the 80th House of Representatives on 11/07/2006. She is not included in the statistics above.

*** Incumbent totals include only those members who served in the 79th Legislature. Freshman totals include only those members whose first term began the first day of the 80th Legislature, 01/09/2007. Rep. Wayne Christian, who first served in the 75th session and is returning after a break in service, is not included in either category.

Membership statistics for the 79th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 118 27 145
Female 31 4 35
Party affiliation
Democrat 63 12 75
Republican 86 19 105
Incumbency
Incumbents 132 31 163
Freshmen 16 0 16
Age
Under 30 3 0 3
30 – 39 20 0 20
40 – 49 45 5 50
50 – 59 34 22 56
60 – 69 39 4 43
70 and over 8 0 8

* Gender, party affiliation, and age calculations are based on the membership as of the first day of session, 01/11/05.
** Incumbent totals include members who served the previous session. Freshman totals include members whose first terms began the first day of session: 01/11/05. Not included as incumbent or freshman:
Rep. Tracy King (first served in 74th session)
*** Elizabeth Ames-Jones was elected to the 79th House of Representatives, but was not sworn in. She is not included in the statistics above.
***** Melissa Noriega was sworn in on January 11, 2005 as a temporary acting representative to serve as a replacement for Rep. Rick Noriega under Article XVI, Section 72 of the Texas Constitution. The chart above includes statistics for Rep. Rick Noriega only.

Sources: Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Texas Senate and Office of the Chief Clerk, Texas House of Representatives

Membership statistics for the 78th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 118 27 145
Female 32 4 36
Party affiliation
Democrat 62 12 74
Republican 88 19 107
Incumbency
Incumbents* 113 24 137
Freshmen** 36 7 43
Ethnicity***
African-American 14 2 16
Asian-American 1 0 1
Caucasian 105 22 127
Hispanic 30 7 37
Age****
Under 30 5 0 5
30 – 39 18 0 18
40 – 49 53 7 60
50 – 59 31 19 50
60 – 69 35 5 40
70 and over 8 0 8

* Does not include Ron Clark–he formally declined seat.

** Includes Sen. Kip Averitt, Sen. Kyle Janek, Sen.Craig Estes, and Rep. Debbie Riddle. Does not include Rep. Roberto Alonzo as a freshman–he previously served in 73rd – 74th Legislatures; his freshman session was the 73rd and he is not an incumbent from the 77th Legislature.

*** Terms beginning on or before 01/14/2003.

**** Age statistics are calculated based on the first day of session–January 14, 2003.

Sources: Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Texas Senate and Office of the Chief Clerk, Texas House of Representatives

Information on this website is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regards to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

Membership statistics for the 77th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 120 27 147
Female 30 4 34
Party affiliation
Democrat 78 15 93
Republican 72 16 88
Incumbency
Incumbents 139 30 169
Freshmen* 11 2 13
Ethnicity**
African-American 14 2 16
Caucasian 108 22 130
Hispanic 27 7 34
Age
Under 30 3 0 3
30-39 17 1 18
40-49 51 9 60
50-59 45 14 59
60-69 25 7 32
70 and over 9 0 9

* Includes Rep. Crownover, elected 05/2000; Rep. Villarreal, elected 02/2000 and Sen. Van De Putte, elected 11/1999. (76th Regular Session ended 05/31/1999.)

** Terms beginning on or before 01/09/2001.

Senate ethnicity source: Secretary of the Senate memo, February 5, 2003, ‘Texas Senate: 63rd – 78th Legislatures’. Secretary of the Senate. 2003.
House ethnicity source: House Chief Clerk’s Office, lists of House members and race, 70th – 78th Legislatures. House Chief Clerk’s Office. 2003.
Additional sources: Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Texas Senate and Office of the Chief Clerk, Texas House of Representatives

Membership statistics for 76th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 121 28 149
Female 29 3 32
Party affiliation
Democrat 78 15 93
Republican 72 16 88
Incumbency
Incumbents 139 29 169
Freshmen 26* 2 28
Ethnicity**
African-American 14 2 16
Caucasian 108 22 130
Hispanic 28 7 35
Age
Under 30 2 0 2
30-39 21 1 22
40-49 54 12 66
50-59 39 13 52
60-69 26 5 31
70 and over 4 0 4
No response 4 0 4

* Includes Representative Capelo, elected 05/1998 (before the end of the 76th Regular Session.)

** Terms beginning on or before 01/12/1999.

Senate ethnicity source: Secretary of the Senate memo, February 5, 2003, ‘Texas Senate: 63rd – 78th Legislatures’. Secretary of the Senate. 2003.
House ethnicity source: House Chief Clerk’s Office, lists of House members and race, 70th – 78th Legislatures. House Chief Clerk’s Office. 2003.
Additional sources: Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Texas Senate and Office of the Chief Clerk, Texas House of Representatives

Membership statistics for the 75th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 121 28 149
Female 29 3 32
Party affiliation
Democrat 82 14 96
Republican 68 16 84
Incumbency
Incumbents 124 25 149
Freshmen * 26 6 32
Ethnicity**
African-American 14 2 16
Caucasian 108 21 129
Hispanic 28 7 35
Age
Under 30 1 0 1
30-39 31 2 33
40-49 49 15 64
50-59 48 9 57
60-69 17 5 22
70 and over 3 0 3
No response 1 0 1

* Includes Rep. Galloway, elected 11/1996; Rep. Hupp, elected 11/1996; Rep. McClendon, elected 11/1996; Rep. Roman, elected 02/1997; Sen. Carona, elected 06/1996; Sen. Duncan, elected 12/1996 and Sen. Ogden, elected 02/1997. (74th Legislative Session ended 05/29/1995.)

** Terms beginning on or before 01/14/1997.

Senate ethnicity source: Secretary of the Senate memo, February 5, 2003, ‘Texas Senate: 63rd – 78th Legislatures’. Secretary of the Senate. 2003.
House ethnicity source: House Chief Clerk’s Office, lists of House members and race, 70th – 78th Legislatures. House Chief Clerk’s Office. 2003.
Additional sources: Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Texas Senate and Office of the Chief Clerk, Texas House of Representatives

Membership statistics for the 74th Legislature

Description House
Members		 Senate
Members		 Total
Gender
Male 121 27 148
Female 29 4 33
Party affiliation
Democrat 87 17 104
Republican 63 14 77
Incumbency
Incumbents 127 26 153
Freshmen * 23 5 28
Ethnicity**
African-American 14 2 16
Caucasian 109 22 131
Hispanic 26 7 33
Age
Under 30 2 0 2
30-39 34 1 35
40-49 56 14 70
50-59 36 12 48
60-69 20 2 22
70 and over 2 1 3

* Includes Rep. Reyna, elected 12/1993 and Rep. Staples, elected 02/1995. (73rd Legislative Session ended 05/31/1993).

** Terms beginning on or before 01/10/1995.

Senate ethnicity source: Secretary of the Senate memo, February 5, 2003, ‘Texas Senate: 63rd – 78th Legislatures’. Secretary of the Senate. 2003.
House ethnicity source: House Chief Clerk’s Office, lists of House members and race, 70th – 78th Legislatures. House Chief Clerk’s Office. 2003

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Texas Tidbits: Past and Present

Texas Occupant Restraint Laws– Texas Transportation Code–Texas Insurance Defense Lawyers

Relevant Statutes:

Vernon’s Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated Transportation Code

Texas Seatbelt Laws

TRANSPORTATION CODE
Chapter 545. Operation and Movement of Vehicles
§ 545.412. Child Passenger Safety Seat Systems; Offense.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person operates a passenger vehicle, transports a child who is younger than eight years of age, unless the child is taller than four feet, nine inches, and does not keep the child secured during the operation of the vehicle in a child passenger safety seat system according to the instructions of the manufacturer of the safety seat system.

(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $25 and not more than $250.

(b-1) [Repealed by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 4 (S.B. 1), § 69.01(1), effective September 28, 2011.]

(c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the person was operating the vehicle in an emergency or for a law enforcement purpose.

(d) [Repealed by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 204 (H.B. 4), § 8.01, effective September 1, 2003.]

(e) This section does not apply to a person:

(1) operating a vehicle transporting passengers for hire, excluding third-party transport service providers when transporting clients pursuant to a contract to provide nonemergency Medicaid transportation; or

(2) transporting a child in a vehicle in which all seating positions equipped with child passenger safety seat systems or safety belts are occupied.

(f) In this section:

(1) “Child passenger safety seat system” means an infant or child passenger restraint system that meets the federal standards for crash-tested restraint systems as set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

(2) “Passenger vehicle” means a passenger car, light truck, sport utility vehicle, passenger van designed to transport 15 or fewer passengers, including the driver, truck, or truck tractor.

(3) “Safety belt” means a lap belt and any shoulder straps included as original equipment on or added to a vehicle.

(4) “Secured,” in connection with use of a safety belt, means using the lap belt and any shoulder straps according to the instructions of:

(A) the manufacturer of the vehicle, if the safety belt is original equipment; or

(B) the manufacturer of the safety belt, if the safety belt has been added to the vehicle.

(g) A judge, acting under Article 45.0511, Code of Criminal Procedure, who elects to defer further proceedings and to place a defendant accused of a violation of this section on probation under that article, in lieu of requiring the defendant to complete a driving safety course approved by the Texas Education Agency, shall require the defendant to attend and present proof that the defendant has successfully completed a specialized driving safety course approved by the Texas Education Agency under the Texas Driver and Traffic Safety Education Act (Article 4413(29c), Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes) that includes four hours of instruction that encourages the use of child passenger safety seat systems and the wearing of seat belts and emphasizes:

(1) the effectiveness of child passenger safety seat systems and seat belts in reducing the harm to children being transported in motor vehicles; and

(2) the requirements of this section and the penalty for noncompliance.

(h) Notwithstanding Section 542.402(a), a municipality or county, at the end of the municipality’s or county’s fiscal year, shall send to the comptroller an amount equal to 50 percent of the fines collected by the municipality or the county for violations of this section. The comptroller shall deposit the amount received to the credit of the tertiary care fund for use by trauma centers.

Chapter 545. Operation and Movement of Vehicles
§ 545.4121. Dismissal; Obtaining Child Passenger Safety Seat System.

(a) This section applies to an offense committed under Section 545.412.

(b) It is a defense to prosecution of an offense to which this section applies that the defendant provides to the court evidence satisfactory to the court that:

(1) at the time of the offense:

(A) the defendant was not arrested or issued a citation for violation of any other offense;

(B) the defendant did not possess a child passenger safety seat system in the vehicle; and

(C) the vehicle the defendant was operating was not involved in an accident; and

(2) subsequent to the time of the offense, the defendant obtained an appropriate child passenger safety seat system for each child required to be secured in a child passenger safety seat system under Section 545.412(a).

Chapter 545. Operation and Movement of Vehicles
§ 545.413. Safety Belts; Offense.

(a) A person commits an offense if:

(1) the person:

(A) is at least 15 years of age;

(B) is riding in a passenger vehicle while the vehicle is being operated;

(C) is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety belt; and

(D) is not secured by a safety belt; or

(2) as the operator of a school bus equipped with a safety belt for the operator’s seat, the person is not secured by the safety belt.

(b) A person commits an offense if the person:

(1) operates a passenger vehicle that is equipped with safety belts; and

(2) allows a child who is younger than 17 years of age and who is not required to be secured in a child passenger safety seat system under Section 545.412(a) to ride in the vehicle without requiring the child to be secured by a safety belt, provided the child is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety belt.

(b-1) A person commits an offense if the person allows a child who is younger than 17 years of age and who is not required to be secured in a child passenger safety seat system under Section 545.412(a) to ride in a passenger van designed to transport 15 or fewer passengers, including the driver, without securing the child individually by a safety belt, if the child is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety belt.

(c) A passenger vehicle or a seat in a passenger vehicle is considered to be equipped with a safety belt if the vehicle is required under Section 547.601 to be equipped with safety belts.

(d) An offense under Subsection (a) is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $25 or more than $50. An offense under Subsection (b) is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $200.

(e) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:

(1) the person possesses a written statement from a licensed physician stating that for a medical reason the person should not wear a safety belt;

(2) the person presents to the court, not later than the 10th day after the date of the offense, a statement from a licensed physician stating that for a medical reason the person should not wear a safety belt;

(3) the person is employed by the United States Postal Service and performing a duty for that agency that requires the operator to service postal boxes from a vehicle or that requires frequent entry into and exit from a vehicle;

(4) the person is engaged in the actual delivery of newspapers from a vehicle or is performing newspaper delivery duties that require frequent entry into and exit from a vehicle;

(5) the person is employed by a public or private utility company and is engaged in the reading of meters or performing a similar duty for that company requiring the operator to frequently enter into and exit from a vehicle;

(6) the person is operating a commercial vehicle registered as a farm vehicle under the provisions of Section 502.433 that does not have a gross weight, registered weight, or gross weight rating of 48,000 pounds or more; or

(7) the person is the operator of or a passenger in a vehicle used exclusively to transport solid waste and performing duties that require frequent entry into and exit from the vehicle.

(f) The department shall develop and implement an educational program to encourage the wearing of safety belts and to emphasize:

(1) the effectiveness of safety belts and other restraint devices in reducing the risk of harm to passengers in motor vehicles; and

(2) the requirements of this section and the penalty for noncompliance.

Chapter 545. Operation and Movement of Vehicles
§ 545.414. Riding in Open Beds; Offense.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person operates an open-bed pickup truck or an open flatbed truck or draws an open flatbed trailer when a child younger than 18 years of age is occupying the bed of the truck or trailer.

(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $25 or more than $200.

(c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the person was:

(1) operating or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an emergency;

(2) operating the vehicle to transport farmworkers from one field to another field on a farm-to-market road, ranch-to-market road, or county road outside a municipality;

(3) operating the vehicle on a beach;

(4) operating a vehicle that is the only vehicle owned or operated by the members of a household; or

(5) operating the vehicle in a hayride permitted by the governing body of or a law enforcement agency of each county or municipality in which the hayride will occur.

(d) Compliance or noncompliance with Subsection (a) is not admissible evidence in a civil trial.

(e) In this section, “household” has the meaning assigned by Section 71.005, Family Code.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Insurance Defense Litigation, Nonsubscriber Law

No Time for Memorandums Now. Go Ahead! Liberty and Independence Forever–Texas Civil Litigation Attorneys

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

 

“They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

-Benjamin Franklin

“Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.” Letter to His Fellow Countrymen, October 20, 1773

-Benjamin Rush

“Hatred of the Jews has changed form but it still remains. If not racial superiority, then religious superiority is the order of the day. The world’s indifference in light of this hatred has also remained. The world has very quickly become accustomed to hearing declarations only 65 years after the Holocaust, declarations of intent to annihilate millions of Jews – and the world continues to act in the same manner. The hesitancy of enlightened countries to act against extreme regimes which threaten us and threaten world peace – this too has not changed. The only thing that has truly changed is our ability and our determination to act to defend ourselves and prevent another Holocaust. This truth is a source of heavy and constant responsibility – to ensure by any means necessary the future and security of the State of Israel against those who seek our destruction. This is the last will and testament of the six million, our brothers and sisters who perished in the Holocaust and it is our duty – and we will carry it out.” Speech at the opening of the permanent exhibition in Block 27 at Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 2013

-Benjamin Netanyahu

“But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

-Declaration Of Independence – 1776

“A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace.” Federalist Papers # 46

-James Madison 

“There’s no reason someone who has fought for their country should be homeless or jobless.”

-Chris Kyle

“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles o popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Letter from the Birmingham Jail

-Martin Luther King Jr. 

“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

-Elmer Davis

“Throughout the day no time for memorandums now. Go ahead! Liberty and independence forever.”

-David Crockett

“Small business is being crushed all across this country by big government. Small business is the engine of economic growth in this country.”

-Carly Fiorina

“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. … How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?” Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.” Letter to Abigail Adams, 1787

–Thomas Jefferson

“The world will see that rebels are the only true patriots and supporters of constitutional liberty.”

-Thomas Rosser

“We know that progress is not inevitable. But neither was victory upon these beaches. Now, as then, the inner voice tells us to stand up and move forward. Now, as then, free people must choose.”  In Normandy to mark the 50th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1994

-Bill Clinton

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Interesting Quotes in History

Duty Is the Sublimest Word in Our Language–Fort Worth, Texas Civil Litigation Attorneys

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

“Every good citizen makes his country’s honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and its conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.”

-Andrew Jackson

“Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master.”

– Margaret Thatcher

“Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late…”

-Pat Cleburne

“If it is in the public interest to maintain an industry, it is clearly not in the public interest by the impact of regulatory authority to destroy its otherwise viable way of life.” Special Message to the Congress on Regulatory Agencies, April 13, 1961

-John F. Kennedy

“I hear people talking bad about the way we have to live here in this country…I do not mind them switching sides, and standing’ up for things they believe in. But when they are running down my country, they’re walking on the fighting side of me. They are running down a way of life our fighting men have fought and died to keep. If you don’t love it, leave it. I read about some squirrely guy who claims he just does not believe in fighting, and  I wonder just how long the rest of us can count on being free. They love our milk and honey, but they preach about some other way of living…”

– Merle Ronald Haggard

“When all the checks and balances of the Constitution are gone, we may easily figure to ourselves the career and the destiny of this godless monster of democratic absolutism. The progress of regulated liberty on this continent will be arrested, anarchy will soon succeed, and the end will be a military despotism, which preserves order by the sacrifice of the last vestige of liberty. They are now fighting the battle of despotism. They have put their Constitution under their feet; they have annulled its most sacred provisions; The future fortunes of our children, and of this continent, would then be determined by a tyranny which has no parallel in history.”

-James Thornwell

“Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth.” 1776

-John Dickinson

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lives a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

-Martin Luther King

“Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.”

-R.Edward Lee

“God never creates inferior human beings, each person deserves respect and dignity.”

-Benjamin Carson

“The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government.”

– Sam Houston

“Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”

-Douglas MacArthur

“Israel has no better friend than America. And America has no better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism.”

-Benjamin Netanyahu

“Liberty may be defined in general, a power of action, or a certain suitableness or preparedness for exertion, and a freedom from force, or hindrance from any external cause. Liberty when predicated of man as a moral agent, and accountable creature, is that suitableness or preparedness to be the subject of volitions, or exercises of will, which we find belongeth to all men of common capacity, and who are come to the years of understanding. This Liberty is opposed to that want of capacity, by which there is a total ignorance of all moral objects.” Sermon Preached to the Corporation of Freemen in Farmington, 1775

-Levi Hart 

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

-Winston Churchill

“The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; the free cultivation of Letters, the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.” Circular to the States June 8, 1783

-George Washington

“The question of why evil exists is not a theological question, for it assumes that it is possible to go behind the existence forced upon us as sinners. If we could answer it then we would not be sinners. We could make something else responsible…The theological question does not arise about the origin of evil but about the real overcoming of evil on the Cross; it ask for the forgiveness of guilt, for the reconciliation of the fallen world ” Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work. Up from Slavery

-Booker T. Washington

“Brutal men with unlimited power are the same all over the world.”

-Mary Chesnut

“Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world”. U.S. Congress, 1847

-Abraham Lincoln  

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting Quotes in History

Texas Insurance Policyholder’s Misrepresentations as Grounds for Defense Against Claims– Fort Worth, Texas Insurance Defense Attorneys

AFFIRMED; and Opinion Filed May 28, 2015.

In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-14-00189-CV
JACKSON FULGHAM DBA COMMERCE STREET PARTNERS, Appellant
V.
ALLIED PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee
On Appeal from the 160th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 11-08353
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Lang-Miers, Whitehill, and Schenck Opinion by Justice Schenck
Jackson Fulgham (Fulgham) appeals a jury’s award of damages to his insurer Allied Property and Casualty Insurance Company (Allied). In two issues, Fulgham challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s verdict, on the finding of fraud and on the finding of unjust enrichment. We affirm the judgment. Because all issues are settled in law, we issue this memorandum opinion. Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.
BACKGROUND
In July 2009, Fulgham made a claim under a property-insurance policy he purchased from Allied for damage to his roof he alleged was caused by a recent hailstorm. Allied’s claims specialist inspected the exterior of Fulgham’s building and estimated the cost of removing and replacing Fulgham’s roof. After Allied issued a payment for the estimated cost, Fulgham contacted the claims specialist and claimed the repairs to the roof would cost more than the estimate. Allied’s claims specialist obtained a comparison estimate to repair the roof “as Mr.
–2–
Fulgham had wanted it done,” and in October 2009, Allied paid an additional amount to Fulgham for costs to repair his roof.
In December 2009, Fulgham called Allied’s claims specialist to add the claim that he had suffered interior damage to his building. In January 2010, the claims specialist inspected the interior of Fulgham’s building and became concerned that Fulgham had misrepresented the building’s purpose on the declarations form as a commercial real estate office when the building had no internal cooling or heating system. In February 2010, Allied required Fulgham to complete and return a Sworn Statement in Proof of Loss. Allied then paid Fulgham for his claimed damages to the interior of his building. In April 2010, following Fulgham’s representations that repairs were complete, and after receiving letters, contracts, and invoices submitted by Fulgham, Allied paid additional amounts for recoverable depreciation related to Fulgham’s roof.
In July 2010, Fulgham submitted an invoice for costs for organizing, cleaning, and storing the contents of the building, despite the fact that Fulgham previously had denied on several occasions that he would make a claim for damaged contents. Allied’s claims specialist inspected the contents of the building and determined little if any work had been done to organize or clean the contents since his last inspection. Fulgham now stated the claimed invoice was an estimate, rather than an invoice. In August 2010, the claims specialist returned with a claims manager and another representative from Allied to inspect the contents of the building. Fulgham submitted additional invoices to support his contents claim. Allied then issued payments to Fulgham for the contents as well.
At this point, Allied’s payments to Fulgham totaled $899,160.00. The jury would later hear substantial evidence that Fulgham was fabricating his claimed losses and enlisting his employees to manufacture evidence in support of his fraud.
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Fulgham then asserted additional damages related to his original claim, including debris removal, asbestos, business interruption, increased costs of construction, and destruction of papers and records. In July 2011, Fulgham sued Allied, asserting contractual, statutory, and common-law claims related to the insurance policy, arguing that Allied improperly refused to participate in an appraisal process provided under the insurance policy in order to determine additional amounts under Fulgham’s original claim. Allied counter-sued Fulgham for fraud and unjust enrichment. The trial court dismissed Fulgham’s claims prior to trial. The jury awarded Allied damages in the amount of $899,160.00, and the trial court rendered judgment on the jury’s verdict.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
When an appellant challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence on a matter for which he or she did not have the burden of proof, the appellant must demonstrate on appeal that there is no evidence to support the adverse findings. McCullough v. Scarbrough, Medlin & Assocs., Inc., 435 S.W.3d 871, 892 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2014, pet. denied). Under a no-evidence point, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, indulging every reasonable inference in support of it. Id. We are mindful in our review that jurors are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. Id. A legal-sufficiency challenge fails if there is more than a scintilla of evidence to support the judgment. Id. “The final test for legal sufficiency must always be whether the evidence at trial would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to reach the verdict under review.” Id. Evidence that does no more than create a surmise or suspicion is insufficient to rise to the level of a scintilla and, in legal effect, is no evidence. Id.
–4–
DISCUSSION
Fulgham’s first issue challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s finding of fraud.
In general, actionable fraud consists of a material false representation that (1) the speaker either knew to be false or was asserted without knowledge of its truth, (2) he intended to be relied upon, (4) was reasonably relied on, and (5) caused injury. Italian Cowboy Partners, Ltd. v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 341 S.W.3d 323, 337 (Tex. 2011). Fulgham argues that the record lacks sufficient evidence of Allied’s reliance on Fulgham’s misrepresentations in the application process. Fulgham further urges that Allied is legally precluded from claiming it relied on Fulgham’s misrepresentations in the claims process because it conducted its own investigation. Finally, Fulgham raises issues with Allied’s failure to comply with provisions of the Texas Insurance Code.
Fulgham urges that there is no evidence that Allied relied on any of the various false statements he made in the application process and that the jury’s finding of Allied’s reliance on Fulgham’s statements in the claims process is contrary to the great weight of the evidence. The question posed to the jury on fraud did not distinguish between fraud in the application process or fraud in the claims process. Fulgham waived error, if any, in comingling these two bases for liability in a single fraud question by failing to raise a timely and specific objection at the trial court below. Burbage v. Burbage, 447 S.W.3d 249, 256 (Tex. 2014). Accordingly, evidence of reliance in the claims process is sufficient to support the jury’s finding of fraud. Indeed, the jury heard ample evidence of Allied’s reliance in the claims process. Allied’s claims specialist testified he relied on Fulgham’s representations that (1) his roof was damaged by a hailstorm during the policy period when it was not, (2) extra work was necessary in paying Fulgham more than the initial estimated cost to repair his roof when it was not, (3) the hailstorm led to damages
–5–
to the interior of the building when it did not, and (4) statements, invoices, and a contract to repair the roof were all issued by contractors when they were fabricated by Fulgham.
Independent of his factual challenges, Fulgham fashions a non-reliance argument to the effect that, as a matter of law, Allied could not rely on his misrepresentations in the claims process because it conducted its own investigation of his claim. This notion does not account for the prospect of fraud directed at the investigation itself. In that context, the Texas Supreme Court rejected this argument more than a century ago, leaving the fraud subject to a remedy despite the plaintiff’s investigation where the defendant takes affirmative steps to frustrate it. Ranger & Co. v. Hearne, 41 Tex. 258, 260–61 (1874) (holding that a contract’s recital that the purchaser of an engine satisfactorily examined the engine will not preclude the purchaser from showing the engine had defects the sellers of the engine hid with new paint and polish). Indeed, this rule has been in effect and in continuous operation since the founding of the Republic. TEX. CONST. OF 1836, art. IV, § 13 (directing Congress to adopt the common law of England as rule of decision); see also Schneider v. Heath (1813) 170 Eng. Rep. 1462 (Ct. Com. Pls.) 1462–63, 3 Camp. 506, 506–08 (cited with approval in Hearne, 41 Tex. at 261).
To be sure, it would initially appear that this Court rejected this ancient common-law norm in a 1950 opinion when we said “[w]here a party who claims to have been defrauded had the means to have discovered the fraud, if any existed, and undertakes to investigate for himself, . . . it must be held as a matter of law that he has knowledge of everything that a proper investigation would disclose, and hence would not be justified in acting on fraudulent representations . . . .” Mann v. Rugel, 228 S.W.2d 585, 587 (Tex. Civ. App.—Dallas 1950, no writ). However, on closer reading, the Court actually confirmed and embraced the rule laid down in Hearne. In particular, reliance can be defeated by a party’s investigation only when he is “not hindered or prevented from doing so by any act of the other party.” Id.; see also M. L.
–6–
Mayfield Petroleum Corp. v. Kelly, 450 S.W.2d 104, 110 (Tex. Civ. App.—Texarkana 1970, writ ref’d n.r.e.) (if the investigation is “free and unhampered and conditions are such that he must obtain the information he desires, he is presumed to rely upon his own investigation rather than on representations made to him”).
Fulgham relies on decisions from our sister courts of appeal to support his interpretation that when one performs his or her own investigation of the facts, one cannot, as a matter of law, be said to have relied upon the misrepresentation of others. See Chitsey v. Nat’l Lloyd’s Ins. Co., 698 S.W.2d 766, 769 (Tex. App.—Austin 1985), aff’d on other grounds, 738 S.W.2d 641 (Tex. 1987); Kolb v. Tex. Emp’rs Ins. Ass’n, 585 S.W.2d 870, 872 (Tex. Civ. App.—Texarkana 1979, writ ref’d n.r.e.). However, neither decision discusses the effect of a defendant’s systematic campaign to hinder or hamper the investigation of a plaintiff. The Chitsey court relied on Kolb to hold that when one makes his own investigation of the facts, he cannot, as a matter of law, be said to have relied upon the misrepresentations of others. Chitsey, 698 S.W.2d at 769. The Kolb court did agree with the general rule that where a person makes his own investigation of the facts, he cannot sustain a cause of action based on misrepresentations made by others, but the court reversed summary judgment granted in favor of the defendant on the grounds that the record was unclear as to whether the plaintiff relied solely on his own investigation. The Texarkana Court of Appeals later made clear that the assertion “that one cannot recover for misrepresentations when he has made his own investigation of the facts . . . is too broad a statement of the rule.” Lutheran Bhd. v. Kidder Peabody & Co., Inc., 829 S.W.2d 300, 308 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 1992, writ granted w.r.m.). Instead, the rule is that “one cannot recover for fraudulent misrepresentations when he knows the representation is false, or when he has relied solely on his own investigation rather than on the representations of the other party.” Id. We do not read these opinions to be out of harmony with that of the Texas Supreme Court or those from
–7–
this Court. A party who claims to have been defrauded and conducted his own investigation will not be prevented from relying on representations made to him by the alleged fraudster so long as the party was hindered or hampered in his investigation by the alleged fraudster or did not rely solely on his investigation.
The jury heard plenty of evidence that Fulgham’s employees, at his instruction, took numerous affirmative actions to hinder or hamper Allied’s investigation and to misrepresent both the existence and the extent of his claimed loss. One employee testified that the building, including its roof, was previously damaged prior to the hail storm and that Fulgham had filed a claim with a different insurance company for fire damage to the building. The employee also related that Fulgham used those other insurance proceeds to remodel the building instead of replacing the roof. In his remodeling attempts, Fulgham removed pipes and installed beams that blocked the building’s drainage system, forcing the rainwater to penetrate the ceiling.
Fulgham then installed a PVC pipe that caught the water coming through the roof and carried the water outside the building. The employee also testified Fulgham hired additional laborers to paint and repair the building in order to make it appear as if Fulgham had maintained the building before the hail storm and to disguise the fact that the damage, including the leak in the roof, existed prior to the hailstorm. According to the employee, Fulgham instructed him on how to answer Allied’s claims specialist’s questions regarding the damage to the building and its roof. Fulgham also directed the employee to represent to Allied’s claims specialist and claims manager that steel beams stored in the building were damaged by leaks and required cleaning so that Fulgham could make custom furniture with them, when in fact that steel beams were leftover from a previous project and as such did not require cleaning. That same employee also testified that his contracting company, which was listed on the invoices sent to Allied’s claims specialist, did not perform the work listed on the invoices and that although his signature was on the
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invoices, he did not prepare or sign the invoices. A second employee testified that Fulgham instructed him to wear business clothes to a meeting with one of Allied’s representatives and to present himself as an owner of a demolition company at a meeting between Fulgham and Allied’s representative. The second employee also testified that Fulgham directed his employees to place documents in certain areas of the building in order to cause them to sustain water damage.
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the record contains more than a scintilla of evidence that Allied relied on Fulgham’s representations and that there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found fraud as charged. See McCullough, 435 S.W.3d at 892. There was also evidence Fulgham hindered or hampered Allied’s investigation by covering up the physical evidence that the roof was not damaged when or as Fulgham claimed, by directing employees to lie to Allied’s claims specialist, and by creating fraudulent invoices to support his claimed costs of repair, all of which a reasonable jury could find prevented Allied from discovering the fraudulent nature of his claims. See Mann, 228 S.W.2d at 587. The record contains evidence that Allied did not rely solely on its investigations, but instead also relied on Fulgham’s representations. See Lutheran Bhd., 829 S.W.2d at 308. Accordingly, we overrule Fulgham’s first issue.
In his second issue, Fulgham urges that unjust enrichment is not an available cause of action because Allied, as an insurer, was limited to contractual claims and challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s finding of unjust enrichment. Because the jury’s fraud finding is sufficient to support the judgment, we need not address Fulgham’s second issue. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1.
Finally, we briefly address Fulgham’s arguments that Allied failed to comply with certain provisions of the Texas Insurance Code. Fulgham argues that under section 705.005, Allied was
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required to provide notice to Fulgham that it refused to be bound by the policy. TEX. INS. CODE ANN. § 705.005 (West 2009). Fulgham also urges Allied was required to show his misrepresentations caused Allied to waive or lose a valid defense to the policy in order to rely on a policy provision concerning misrepresentation in a proof of loss. Id. § 705.003. These provisions govern an insurer’s use of a policyholder’s misrepresentations as grounds for defense against a policyholder’s claims or to void or rescind a policy based on a provision in the policy prohibiting insured’s misrepresentations. See id. § 705.005 (“A defendant may use as a defense a misrepresentation made in the application for or in obtaining an insurance policy”); § 705.003 (imposing requirements on insurer in order to allow insurer to rescind or void policy based on provision prohibiting insured’s misrepresentations). In the instant case, the insurance policy provided that any material misrepresentations made by Fulgham in the application or claims process would void the insurance policy, but Allied did not seek to rescind or void the policy on that provision and did not obtain relief on those grounds. Instead, Allied sought and obtained relief on the grounds of its own affirmative claims of common-law fraud and unjust enrichment.
CONCLUSION
We affirm the judgment.
140189F.P05
/David J. Schenck/
DAVID J. SCHENCK JUSTICE
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S
Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
JUDGMENT
JACKSON FULGHAM D/B/A COMMERCE STREET PARTNERS, Appellant
No. 05-14-00189-CV V.
ALLIED PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee
On Appeal from the 160th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 11-08353.
Opinion delivered by Justice Schenck. Justices Lang-Miers and Whitehill participating.
In accordance with this Court’s opinion of this date, the judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED.
It is ORDERED that appellee ALLIED PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY recover its costs of this appeal from appellant JACKSON FULGHAM D/B/A COMMERCE STREET PARTNERS.
Judgment entered this 28th day of May, 2015.

 

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