In re Johnson
In re Johnson
Opinion of the Court
*97In this mandamus proceeding, Jarod Johnson, as relator, asks the Court to decide whether the trial court clearly abused its discretion by severing a wrongful death action that was filed against him and three other defendants into three separate suits. Because the plaintiff's claims against all four of the defendants arose from a single collision that gave rise to one wrongful death action, we hold the trial court clearly abused its discretion by splintering the action into three different cause numbers. Because a remedy through an ordinary appeal at the conclusion of the trials of the causes would not adequately cure the harm to Johnson caused by the trial court's orders of severance, we conditionally grant Johnson's request for mandamus relief.
Background
Seven-year-old Jarod Johnson Jr. died in a motor vehicle collision that occurred in Liberty County on June 17, 2016. In February 2017, Jarod's mother, Holly D. Johnson, filed a wrongful death suit in Jefferson County, Texas, against BesTest, Inc., Joshua Alan Jordan (Jordan), Jarod Lawrence Johnson (Johnson) and Refractory Construction Services Co., LLC. The child was travelling in a truck driven by Johnson, his father, when they were involved in a collision with an eighteen-wheeler being driven by Jordan, who Holly alleged was driving the truck in the course and scope of his employment for BesTest. Holly also alleged that when the collision occurred, Johnson was driving his truck he and his son were in while in the course of his employment with Refractory.
With respect to the county where Holly filed her suit, she alleged that Jefferson County represented a county of proper venue because one of the corporations she sued had its principal office there. However, Holly's pleadings failed to identify whether Refractory or BesTest was the corporation that she intended to prove at trial had its principal office in Jefferson County. See
When Johnson answered Holly's suit, he did not file a motion to transfer venue. When the other three defendants appeared in the suit, BesTest and Jordan, jointly, and Refractory, separately, filed motions to transfer venue. In their motions, all three of these defendants denied that BesTest or Refractory had its principal office in Jefferson County, Texas. In its motion, Refractory asked the trial court to transfer venue of the case to Liberty County, where the accident occurred. In their joint motion, BesTest and Jordan alleged that BesTest maintains its principal place of business in Lee County, and they alleged that Jordan was a resident of Hardin County. Although BesTest and Jordan's motion alleged that they do not reside in Galveston County, they asked the trial court to transfer the suit to Galveston County because Refractory had its corporate office there.
In October 2017, BesTest and Jordan demanded that the trial court rule on their *98joint motion to transfer. The trial court conducted a hearing regarding their demand, but concluded in that hearing that it would not rule until the parties completed both discovery and had mediated their dispute. BesTest, Inc. , No. 09-17-00449-CV,
In December 2017, we granted conditional mandamus relief requiring the trial court to rule on the joint motion to transfer venue. Id. at *3. Approximately one month after issuing our opinion in that original proceeding, the trial court granted BesTest's and Jordan's joint motion for transfer. In its order granting the joint motion, the trial court transferred Holly's wrongful death action against BesTest and Jordan to Galveston County. On the same day, the trial court signed a separate order transferring Holly's wrongful death action against Refractory to Liberty County. These two orders are silent with respect to Holly's action against Johnson, and did not sever Holly's action against BesTest and Jordan, and Holly's action against Refractory into separate cause numbers.
Subsequently, on January 24, 2018, the trial court amended these two orders. Its amended order recites that the motions to transfer were sustained, and the court severed Holly's wrongful death action against Refractory and sent it to Liberty County. As to BesTest and Jordan, the amended order severed Holly's action and sent Holly's action against them to Galveston County, clarifying that BesTest and Jordan were the only defendants the court was transferring to Galveston County. As to Johnson, the amended order states that Johnson waived his right to challenge venue, and the court ordered Holly's action against Johnson to remain in Jefferson County.
On February 1, 2018, Johnson filed a motion requesting that the court reconsider its decision splintering Holly's wrongful death action into three separate suits. Johnson's motion, which complains about the trial court's severance orders, argues that Holly's claims against the defendants were not properly severable. In his motion, Johnson asked the court to "enter a new order that transfers the entire cause to the same county whether it be Liberty or Galveston County." Johnson did not assert that he had preserved his right to choose from the counties of proper venue that might be available under the circumstances of the case. Instead, his motion argues only that the case should be tried against all of the defendants in one county because it was not properly severable into separate causes.
Following a non-evidentiary hearing on Johnson's motion, which occurred nineteen days after the trial court amended its prior orders, the trial court denied Johnson's request. If not withdrawn, the trial court's severance orders splintering Holly's wrongful death action into three causes will involve three courts, and possibly three juries, in resolving Holly's wrongful death action.
Several days after the trial court denied Johnson's motion challenging the court's orders of severance, Johnson filed a petition seeking mandamus relief in this Court. In his petition, Johnson argues the trial court improperly severed Holly's wrongful death action into three causes because Holly's wrongful death action will require a jury to apportion the negligence of the various defendants who the jury finds responsible for causing the collision that gave rise to Holly's action. We stayed *99the trial court's orders of severance pending our review of Johnson's petition.
In his petition seeking mandamus relief, Johnson argues that severing the wrongful death action was improper and unnecessary under Rule 41, the rule of procedure governing severances. Johnson argues that Holly's action should be tried in one proceeding. He suggests that by splintering the proceeding into three separate actions, his right to fairly try the facts and issues that will be needed to resolve Holly's claims will be compromised. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 41 (misjoinder and non-joinder of parties).
In response to Johnson's petition, Holly contends that the severances were proper because the sole remedy provided by the Texas Legislature when ruling on timely-filed venue motions requires that trial courts splinter the case into separate actions by sending those defendants who perfected their rights to challenge venue to the county that each defendant requested, so long as those counties are counties of proper venue. Holly argues that the venue statute does not authorize transferring her suit against Johnson to a county of proper venue because he failed to file a motion challenging her choice of venue.
Mandamus Review
An appellate court may grant a petition for mandamus relief only to correct a trial court's clear abuse of its discretion because it made a ruling for which the relator has no adequate remedy by ordinary appeal. In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. ,
In evaluating the benefits and detriments of reviewing a matter in a mandamus proceeding instead of awaiting the ordinary appeal, we consider whether a decision to grant the writ will preserve a litigant's important substantive and procedural rights that a litigant has from impairment or loss. See Prudential ,
Severance
The Rules of Civil Procedure give trial courts broad discretion in deciding whether to sever causes. Tex. R. Civ. P. 41. However, mandamus is available in a proper case to protect a party against a trial court's clear abuse of its discretion when the trial court has improperly ordered a severance. See Womack v. Berry ,
Rule 41 provides that "[a]ny claim against a party may be severed and proceeded with separately." See Tex. R. Civ. P. 41. Cases decided under Rule 41 establish the guidelines that trial courts are required to follow when deciding whether to sever a litigant's claims into multiple causes. Nearly thirty years ago, the Texas Supreme Court explained that *100under Rule 41, "[a] claim is properly severable if (1) the controversy involves more than one cause of action, (2) the severed claim is one that would be the proper subject of a lawsuit if independently asserted, and (3) the severed claim is not so interwoven with the remaining action that they involve the same facts and issues." Guar. Fed. Sav. Bank v. Horseshoe Operating Co. ,
In this case, Holly, who is the sole plaintiff, alleged that the combined negligence of four defendants caused a motor vehicle collision, and that the collision resulted in her son's death. Holly sued the defendants under the Wrongful Death Act. See
If the trial court's severance order is allowed to stand, Refractory would be sent to Liberty County, BesTest and Jordan would be sent to Galveston County, and Johnson would remain in Jefferson County. Due to the severances, the defendants in each of those proceedings would likely identify the others as responsible third parties so that the combined negligence of all four defendants could be apportioned. And, the liability would be apportioned by three separate juries, as each jury would be required to determine who was negligent and responsible for causing the wreck. Thus, assuming a jury finds in Holly's favor in all three cases, Holly's damages (which might be in different amounts in each of the three cases) will be required to be apportioned in ways that might differ. See
For the reasons explained above, we hold the trial court failed to follow well-settled law when it severed Holly's wrongful death action into three cause numbers. See Guar. Fed. ,
Johnson's Waiver of His Venue Rights
In this original proceeding, Holly argues that mandamus relief is inappropriate as to Johnson's complaints about the trial court's severance orders because Johnson failed to preserve his right to have the case Holly filed against him transferred to a county of proper venue. Additionally, Holly suggests the trial court properly denied Johnson's motion because granting *101Johnson's motion would require the trial court to conduct more than one venue hearing, which she claims would violate Rule 87(5) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. See generally Tex. R. Civ. P. 87(5) ("If venue has been sustained as against a motion to transfer, or if an action has been transferred to a proper county in response to a motion to transfer, then no further motions to transfer shall be considered regardless of whether the movant was a party to the prior proceedings or was added as a party subsequent to the venue proceedings[.]").
Relying on several Rule 87(5) cases, Holly argues it would be error for this Court to grant Johnson's petition. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 87(5). We disagree. The authorities Holly cites are distinguishable. In Dorchester Master Limited Partnership v. Anthony , the appellate court held the transferee court lacked the authority to reconsider the transferring court's prior venue determination.
Holly also relies on In re Hardwick ,
Similarly, we find In re Medical Carbon Research Institute, L.L.C. to be distinguishable. In Medical Carbon , the Fourteenth Court of Appeals held that the trial court did not err when it refused to hear Medical Carbon's motion to reconsider a prior ruling that had been made on Medical Carbon's motion to transfer venue. No. 14-07-00935-CV,
In Marathon Corporation v. Pitzner , which is another case Holly cites in her response, the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court properly refused to consider Marathon's motion to reconsider its venue ruling, noting that Rule 87(5) prohibited the trial court from holding another hearing to consider its initial venue ruling.
Holly also argues that section 15.0641 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code prevented the trial court from reconsidering its orders transferring Holly's action to Liberty County and Galveston County. See
In conclusion, BesTest, Jordan, and Refractory preserved their right to complain that Jefferson County was not a county of proper venue by filing timely motions to transfer venue. Consequently, the venue motions filed by the defendants who perfected their right to challenge venue required the trial court to decide whether or not Jefferson County, the county in which Holly chose to file her suit, was a county of proper venue for Holly's action. Once the trial court determined that Jefferson County was not a county of proper venue, the venue statute that controlled the trial court's determination about where to send the case, as well as the rule of civil procedure governing severances, and Guaranty Federal required the trial court to avoid splintering Holly's action into three suits. See
Inadequate Remedy by Appeal
Holly argues in her response that the trial court's venue ruling is an incidental ruling for which mandamus relief is unavailable. However, allowing a trial court to improperly sever claims to require separate courts to handle a wrongful death action when the case was not properly severable could result in different outcomes on the issues of negligence, proximate cause, apportionment of fault, and damages. Should the trial court's severances stand, requiring multiple proceedings that will possibly result in different outcomes, a significant waste of both public and judicial resources will occur. In re Energy Res. Tech. GOM, Inc. , No. 14-12-00835-CV,
The trial court recognized the burden that splintering the actions would create during one of the hearings that it conducted on the motion BesTest and Jordan filed complaining about the trial court's refusal to issue a timely ruling on their joint motion to transfer. In that hearing, the trial court explained its view that splitting Holly's action into multiple suits "had the potential to create a procedural and logistical nightmare caused by two different trials in two different counties regarding the conduct of the same parties in the same motor vehicle collision." In re BesTest ,
We conclude the benefits of allowing Johnson to obtain relief in a mandamus proceeding significantly outweigh the detriments to allowing the trial court's improvidently granted orders of severance to stand. See In re Prudential ,
Conclusion
Having found that the trial court abused its discretion by severing the action and that Johnson does not have an adequate remedy at law, we conditionally grant Johnson's request for mandamus relief. We are confident the trial court will promptly vacate its prior orders severing Holly's action, and that it will transfer the entire case to a county of proper venue, as requested by one of the defendants who timely requested a transfer of venue. The writ will issue only if the trial court fails to act in accordance with the Court's opinion.
PETITION CONDITIONALLY GRANTED.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.