 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Taylor v. Wilson10/6/2005
;H.B. 15") in the 66th Legislative Regular Session. The limitation on arbitration for personal injury claims first appeared as an amendment to H.B. 15.
In the second meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on H.B. 15, an amendment was offered to exclude personal injury actions from the [Texas Arbitration Act]. The bill was subsequently referred to a special subcommittee which modified the amendment by allowing arbitration of personal injury actions under the statute so long as the parties to a written agreement could prove they were advised on the implications of arbitration by counsel. The amendment was only concerned with physical personal injuries, as it also sought to exclude claims for workers' compensation. The essence of the language in the amendment was agreed to by the Senate, and subsequently adopted into the final version of the bill. The personal injury clause remained substantially unchanged when the 74th Legislature redesignated the [Texas Arbitration Act] from the Civil Statutes to Chapter 171 of the Civil Practice & Remedies Code. The reorganization of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code under the 75th Legislature, which divided the old section 171.001 into two sections, placed the personal injury clause in the new section 171.002 and added the requirement that a personal injury arbitration agreement must be signed by the parties themselves, as well as their attorneys.
Robert J. Kraemer, Attorney-Client Conundrum: The Use of Arbitration Agreements for Legal Malpractice in Texas, 33ST. MARY'S L.J.909, 932-34 (2002) (emphasis added) (footnotes omitted). The legislature clearly did not intend to include a claim for legal malpractice within the personal injury exception.
III. CONCLUSION
We find no room for doubt in the legislature's intent to restrict the meaning of the personal injury exception of the Texas Arbitration Act to physical personal injury . Inasmuch as Wilson has not suffered a physical injury, her malpractice claim is not excluded from arbitration. Thus, the trial court erred as a matter of law by finding Wilson's legal malpractice claim was a claim for personal injury. Because we resolve the first issue in appellants' favor, we do not address their second issue. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's order denying appellants' motion to compel arbitration and remand this cause with instructions to the trial court to enter an order compelling arbitration between appellee, Valerie Wilson, and the appellants, Dennis Taylor and the law firm of Shepherd, Smith & Bebel, P.C., and staying all other proceedings in this matter pending the outcome of the arbitration.
Judgment rendered and Majority and Concurring Opinions filed October 6, 2005.
Panel consists of Justices Anderson, Frost, and Seymore.
Page 1 2 3 Texas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|