Texas Appellate Lawyer & Attorney : D. Todd Smith Law Firm : Appeals, Sanctions, Summary Judgment : Austin, Texas

The Texas Supreme Court issued one opinion with today's orders.  In Yancy v. United Surgical Partners Inc. (05-0925), a summary judgment case, the Court held that the two-year statute of limitations in the former Medical Liability Act did not violate the Texas Constitution's open courts guarantee on the record presented.  Although the Court concluded that the court of appeals erred because the record contained some evidence of continuous mental incapacity, it nevertheless affirmed after concluding that the petitioner failed to raise a "fact issue establishing that [petitioner] did not have a reasonable opportunity to discover the alleged wrong and bring suit within the limitations period or that she sued within a reasonable time after discovering the alleged wrong.  Thus, the open courts provision does not save [petitioner's] time-barred negligence claims."

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In Barrigan v. MHMR Services for the Concho Valley, the Third Court of Appeals has held that failure to include an instruction on the burden of proof in the jury charge was harmless error because the jury was instructed about the proper burden when trial began and appellant's counsel emphasized the proper burden throughout the trial.

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