Hancock v. Great American Insurance Co.
Hancock v. Great American Insurance Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a summary judgment case. Herschel Hancock, d/b/a Hancock Insurance Agency, appellant (plaintiff), brought suit against Great American Insurance Company, appellee (defendant), seeking a declaratory judgment, an accounting, and damages for breach of contract and fraud. The parties had a business relationship with one another as a result of an agency contract and a profit sharing agreement. Appellee Great American Insurance Company filed a cross-action, claiming insurance premiums were due and payable to it by appellant Hancock. Appellee filed its motion for summary judgment and the trial court entered a partial summary judgment in favor of appellee for recovery of the insurance premiums alleged to be due, interest on the premiums and assessed the master in chancery fee against appellant as costs. All other costs were unassessed until a final disposition of the remaining issues, which issues the court on its own motion severed from the partial summary judgment.
Appellant has perfected his appeal to this court and submits ten points of error for our consideration.
After sifting through the voluminous record in this case, we have concluded that a material issue of fact exists and that the trial court should not have entered a partial summary judgment.
The burden was upon the movant to prove as a matter of law that no material fact issue existed. Nichols v. Smith, 507 S.W.2d 518 (Tex.Sup. 1974); Hidalgo v. Surety Savings and Loan Ass’n, 462 S.W.2d 540 (Tex.Sup. 1971); City of Hutchins v. Prasifka, 450 S.W.2d 829 (Tex.Sup. 1970).
In view of our conclusions that a material fact issue exists and that appellee was not entitled to the summary judgment, we are sustaining appellant’s points of error 4 and 5. It is not necessary for us to reach the other points, and we therefore decline to do so.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.