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Exxonmobil Corp. v. Kirkendall9/22/2004
ON, APPELLEE'S MOTION FOR REHEARING
APPELLEE'S MOTION FOR REHEARING GRANTED; REVERSED AND REMANDED
In an opinion and judgment dated July 7, 2004, we reversed the trial court's judgment in favor of appellees, Lonzo Kirkendale and Patricia Wagner, and rendered a take-nothing judgment in favor of appellants. The appellees filed a motion for rehearing in which they assert rendition was improper and, instead, this court should have remanded the cause for further proceedings on certain "pretermitted" causes of action. Appellants filed a response in which they objected to appellees' requested relief. We agree with appellees and accordingly grant the motion for rehearing. Therefore, we vacate our earlier judgment, withdraw our earlier opinion, and issue this opinion and judgment in their place.
Appellants (hereinafter "Mobil") appeal from the trial court's judgment in favor of appellees, Lonzo Kirkendall and Patricia Wagner. At trial, appellees argued Mobil committed fraud on its employees by falsely claiming it had genuine workers' compensation insurance. The jury agreed, and based on the jury's findings, the trial court determined Mobil was not a subscriber under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act (the "TWCA"). Further, the trial court concluded the TWCA's exclusive remedy provision did not bar appellees' common-law negligence claims. The jury found that Mobil's negligence proximately caused appellees' injuries, and awarded appellees actual and exemplary damages for their work-place injuries. However, because (1) Mobil proved its subscriber status as a matter of law and (2) appellees' fraud claims are immaterial to that status, we reverse and render a take-nothing judgment in favor of appellants.
BACKGROUND
The underlying litigation began in 1992 in the 58th Judicial District Court of Jefferson County. The litigation originally proceeded as a class action suit, but following the trial court's decertification of the class, it ultimately became a mass tort case with hundreds of named plaintiffs. Appellees Kirkendall and Wagner are the first two plaintiffs to have their cases tried, which involved injuries that occurred in the course and scope of appellees' employment while working at Mobil's factory in Beaumont, Texas. Appellees claimed no-fault workers' compensation benefits for their alleged injuries and received workers' compensation benefits for all uncontroverted claims. Subsequent to receiving their workers' compensation awards, appellees brought this suit seeking the difference between the workers' compensation benefits they received and the amounts they alleged they could have received under the common-law. Appellees alleged Mobil deprived them of their common-law claims by falsely representing that it was a subscriber to the TWCA, and thus not entitled to the exclusive remedy provision. In addition to Mobil, appellees also named as defendants Mobil's insurance carriers during the years appellees were injured. During those years, Mobil obtained its workers' compensation insurance from several different companies. Pre-1970 through 1981, Mobil's insurer was Forum; from 1982 through 1991, Mobil's insurer was National Union; in 1992, Mobil's insurer was American Home Assurance Company; and, in 1993, Mobil's insurer was ICSOP. The latter three insurers are members of the American International Group of Companies.
The trial court divided the trial into two parts. The first phase of the trial dealt with the issue of Mobil's subscriber status and appellees' fraud claims. During the first phase, appellees argued that, even though they received workers' compensation benefits, Mobil deprived them of their right to bring suit under the commo
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