Texas Supreme Court Issues Opinion Regarding Timely Filing of a Lawsuit

Today the Texas Supreme Court released an opinion addressing timely filing of a lawsuit when the plaintiff alleged he sustained an occupational injury. The sole issue was whether evidence supported a jury’s finding that the plaintiff, James Phillips, filed his injury lawsuit on time.

Phillips, a BNSF Railway employee, sued his employer under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act and the Locomotive Inspection Act. He alleged that riding on locomotives with poorly maintained seats caused him to suffer long-term vibratory exposure, which resulted in an occupational injury. Phillips sued BNSF under the two federal acts. Unlike most limitations statutes, which generally operate as affirmative defenses, a plaintiff suing under the federal acts pertinent to this case must prove suit was filed before limitations ended.

Evidence demonstrated that Phillips’ injuries were manifest as early as a chiropractor visit in 1998. By 2003, Phillips received a concrete diagnosis that he had spondylolysis, a vertebral defect, and other back injuries. After his chiropractor ordered a magnetic-resonance image, Phillips continued treatment with the chiropractor for several years. Although Phillips argued that he was not aware of his injuries or their cause until 2005, he did not argue that he was unaware of the 2003 diagnosis. That diagnosis, coupled with earlier complaints to BNSF and coworkers about the rough-riding conditions and poorly maintained seats, as well as his 1998 statements to his chiropractor that those work conditions aggravated his symptoms, establish that Phillips was aware of critical facts about his injury and its causation and should have known that his injury was work related.

A complete copy of the Court’s opinion can be found here: www.txcourts.gov/media/1190166/140530.pdf