Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of October 23, 2006

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Williams v. LifeCare Hosps. of N. Tex., No. 02-06-00046-CV (Oct. 26, 2006) (Gardner, J., joined by Walker and McCoy, JJ.).

Held: Appellants were estopped under the acceptance of the benefits rule from maintaining their appeal seeking a remand and new trial on the issue of malice and punitive damages after Appellants accepted the sums awarded by the jury as compensatory damages. Under the new procedural requirements governing trials in which punitive damages are sought, the same jury must sit in both phases of the trial and impose a punitive damage award based on the totality of the evidence presented. Therefore, a new trial solely on the issue of punitive damages is improper because the punitive damage issues are not severable from the issues relating to the remainder of the case.

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Updated: 27-Oct-2006