Hawthorne Phillips

In Ward v. Nava, David Nava obtained a $25,000 default judgment against Oliver Ward in a negligence action arising from a car accident. Ward moved to set aside the judgment and for a new trial, asserting through affidavit that he had not been personally served with process and that his failure to answer resulted from inadvertence or mistake after discovering the papers late. The trial court overruled the motion, and the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. The Texas Supreme Court held that the trial court could reasonably find the affidavit insufficient to overcome the presumption of proper service, but that the facts described met the Craddock requirements for an excuse of accident or mistake, allowing the default to be set aside upon a showing of a meritorious defense.

proceduretorts & liability

In this case, employee Charles Campbell sued Sonford Chemical Company for negligence causing his on-the-job injuries sustained in 1964-1965, with his workers' compensation carrier intervening to recover benefits paid. The trial court and court of civil appeals granted summary judgment for Sonford on the ground that the two-year statute of limitations had run from the date of injury. The Texas Supreme Court reversed and remanded, holding that under the state's workers' compensation statutes, particularly Article 8307 Sections 4a and 6a, the cause of action against a third party does not accrue and limitations does not begin to run until the carrier pays the award or a final judgment is entered in the compensation proceeding. The court reasoned that the compensation laws remove such claims from the operation of the general personal-injury limitations statute once the employee qualifies for recovery, consistent with prior Texas precedent.

labor & employmentproceduretorts & liability