Court Opinion

ID: 9772636
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:24:27.683401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:46.420721
License: Public Domain

HUTSON-DUNN, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I do not agree with the majority’s holding that the defendants’ motion for arbitration stated a claim for affirmative relief sufficient to preclude Quanto’s absolute right to take a nonsuit of its claims.
To state a claim for affirmative relief, a defensive pleading must assert a cause of action, independent of the claims already asserted by the plaintiff, on which the defendant could recover benefits, compensation, or relief, even if the plaintiff abandons its cause of action. General land Office v. OXY U.S.A. Inc., 789 S.W.2d 569, 570 (Tex.1990). Here, the defendants had to have asserted facts in their motion to compel arbitration showing an affirmative claim not already pled by Quanto. Baca v. Hoover, Bax & Shearer, 823 S.W.2d 734, 737-38 (Tex.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, writ denied); see also Progressive Ins. Co. v. Hartman, 788 S.W.2d 424, 426 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1990, no writ).
In their motion to compel arbitration, the defendants state that Quanto’s claims arise under the joint venture agreement, which provides for arbitration; therefore, they are entitled to have Quanto’s claims resolved through arbitration. This assertion alone, in my opinion, is insufficient to state a claim for affirmative relief.
Once Quanto abandoned its claims by filing a nonsuit, no other claims were on file to be resolved by arbitration. The defendants had to assert facts showing a claim not already pled by Quanto to preclude the nonsuit. In this case, arbitration was merely the vehicle for resolving Quanto’s claims.
Therefore, I would grant the petition for writ of mandamus and direct the trial court to vacate the May 27, 1994, reinstatement order.