During the administrative proceedings, a hearing officer concluded after a contested-case hearing that Mr. Chicas was not an employee of Spartan Equipment at the time of his injury and, therefore, that his injury was not compensable.

Ms. Chicas appealed the hearing officer's determinations to an appeals panel.

On January 5, 2015, the DWC notified Ms. Chicas that, after review by the panel, the hearing officer's decision and order was final. The notice also stated, consistent with Texas Labor Code Section 410.252(a), that “[i]f you are not satisfied with this decision and desire to have the dispute resolved in court, then you must file a lawsuit in the appropriate district court not later than the 45th day after the date on which the [DWC] mailed the parties the decision.”

While the administrative proceedings were still pending, Ms. Chicas filed a wrongful-death suit in probate court against Spartan Equipment and others. On February 4, 2015, well within the 45-day deadline to seek review of the appeals panel decision, Ms. Chicas amended her probate court pleadings to add Texas Mutual as a defendant, seeking judicial review of the administrative decision.

More than six months later, the probate court dismissed her claims against Texas Mutual. Twelve days later, Ms. Chicas filed suit in a trial court against Texas Mutual, seeking judicial review of the appeals panel decision.

Texas Mutual asserted (1) that the 45-day deadline to seek judicial review of an appeals panel decision was jurisdictional, and (2) because Ms. Chicas filed suit after the deadline had passed, the trial court lacked jurisdiction.

The trial court agreed with Texas Mutual and dismissed Ms. Chicas' claims against Texas Mutual in their entirety.

Ms. Chicas appealed. The court of appeals reversed, holding that the 45-day deadline for filing judicial-review claims in Section 410.252(a) was not a jurisdictional statutory prerequisite.

The question of whether Ms. Chicas' failure to file suit before the 45-day deadline had expired deprived the trial court of jurisdiction reached the Supreme Court of Texas.

Texas Law

Time for Filing Petition; Venue

(a) A party may seek judicial review by filing suit not later than the 45th day after the date on which the division mailed the party the decision of the appeals panel. For purposes of this section, the mailing date is considered to be the fifth day after the date the decision of the appeals panel was filed with the division.

Tex. Lab. Code Section 410.252.

The Texas Supreme Court's Decision

The Supreme Court of Texas affirmed.

In its decision, the court explained that the parties agreed that the 45-day deadline to seek judicial review of an appeals panel decision was mandatory, but disagreed as to whether compliance with it was or was not jurisdictional.

The court ruled that it was not jurisdictional.

The court reasoned that there was no explicit language in the law that indicated that the legislature clearly intended the 45-day deadline in subsection Section 410.252(a) to be jurisdictional. Indeed, the court added, the statute did not refer to the trial court's jurisdiction in any way.

The court overruled the “multiple” courts of appeals that have held otherwise, see Davis v. American Casualty Co., 408 S.W.3d 1, 6 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2012, pet. denied); Fire & Casualty Ins. Co. v. Miranda, 293 S.W.3d 620, 624-25 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2009, no pet.); Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool v. Burns, 209 S.W.3d 806, 812 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2006, no pet.); LeBlanc v. Everest National Ins. Co., 98 S.W.3d 786, 787 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi—Edinburg 2003, no pet.); Johnson v. United Parcel Service, 36 S.W.3d 918, 921 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2001, pet. denied); Argonaut Sw. Ins. v. Walker, 64 S.W.3d 654, 657 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2001, pet. denied); DeVore v. American Manufacturers Mutual Ins. Co., No. 01-07-00495-CV, (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] June 27, 2008, no pet.) (mem. op.).

It then concluded that the trial court had erred in rejecting Ms. Chicas' suit. It affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings

The case is Texas Mutual Ins. Co. v. Chicas, No. 17-0501 (Tex. April 5, 2019). Attorneys involved include: For Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Petitioner: James A. Hemphill, Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody PC, Austin, TX; Jonathan L. Chaltain, R. Scott Placek, Scott K. Arnold, Arnold & Placek, P.C., Round Rock, TX; Justin Bernstein, Greenberg Traurig, Austin, TX; Kyle Mullins Jones, Arnold & Placek PC, Round Rock, TX; Mary Barrow Nichols, Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Austin, TX; Shannon Simmons Pounds, Texas Mutual Insurance Co., Austin, TX. For Bertila Chicas, Individually and as Beneficiary of Santiago Chicas, deceased, Respondent: Scott Keller, Thomas R. Phillips, Thomas R. Phillips, Baker Botts LLP, Austin, TX; Kurt H. Kuhn, Lisa B. Hobbs, Kuhn Hobbs PLLC, Austin, TX; Steve Waldman, Terry Bryant, Terry Bryant PLLC, Houston, TX.

Insurance Coverage Law Center Comment

It is worth observing that although the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the 45-day statutory deadline is not jurisdictional and that a party may seek judicial review after the agency determination has become final, a defendant still may challenge a late-filed petition even if the deadline is not jurisdictional. See, e.g., City of DeSoto v. White, 288 S.W.3d 389 (Tex. 2009) (noting that consequences may flow from a party's failure to comply with a non-jurisdictional requirement when timely asserted).