Court Opinion

ID: 9733593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:11:15.586203+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:55.937470
License: Public Domain

RICHARD H. EDELMAN, Justice,
dissenting.
The dissenting opinion issued in this case on August 29, 2002 is withdrawn and replaced by this opinion.
I agree with the majority opinion except with regard to the trial court’s actions at the pretrial conferences. In the absence of a no-evidence or traditional motion for summary judgment, admission, stipulation, or agreement of the parties on an issue, I do not agree that; (1) a trial court has authority in a pretrial conference to decide that sufficient evidence does not exist to allow that issue to be tried; or (2) such a decision by a trial court can be reviewed under a directed verdict standard.
Before a trial court may decide, by way of a summary judgment, that sufficient evidence does not exist to allow an issue to *332be tried, a motion must be filed at least 21 days before the matter is decided, during which time the non-moving party is on notice to submit evidence on the specified issue(s).1 A motion for summary judgment must be filed by a party,2 not sua sponte by the trial court. Moreover, a summary judgment may be granted and affirmed only on grounds expressly set forth in the motion3 and can readily be reviewed on that basis. Unless a motion for summary judgment is properly granted, a party cannot be denied the right to present his evidence (or lack thereof) at a trial based on the insufficiency of that evidence.
By contrast, if a trial court is going to be allowed in a pretrial conference to decide whether sufficient evidence exists to allow an issue to be tried without a motion for a summary judgment being filed, there are no safeguards to assure that: (1) parties will be apprised in advance that evidence will need to be presented at the conference, on what issues, and in what forms, i.e., affidavits or live testimony; (2) the no-evidence grounds will be those raised by an opposing party, not the trial court; or (3) the means will exist to create an adequate record of what and how evidence was presented. How then can a pretrial conference ruling be reviewed under a directed verdict standard, particularly if no actual trial ever takes place at which the adversely affected party can make an offer of proof or bill of exceptions?
The purpose of pretrial conferences is to simplify the trial to those issues not disposed of by admissions, agreement of the parties, or other rulings contemplated by the rules of procedure, such as summary judgments, not to circumvent the safeguards afforded by those rules.4 Under the majority holding, pretrial conferences can be used as gatekeeping proceedings in which trial courts, rather than opponents, can put parties to task to demonstrate the sufficiency of their evidence before trials on those issues will be allowed. Even if there were merit in allowing such a gatek-eeping step in the litigation process, the current lack of uniform procedures for doing so in a rule 166 pretrial conference make that an ill-suited mechanism for effecting it. Therefore, I would reverse and remand the judgment on the claims that were disposed of at the pretrial conferences other than by summary judgment, admission, stipulation, or agreement clearly reflected in the record.

. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(c), (i).

. See TexR. Civ. P. 166a.

. See TEX.R. Civ. P. 166a(c); Johnson v. Brewer & Pritchard, P.C., 73 S.W.3d 193, 204 (Tex.2002).

. See Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Hazlitt, 147 Tex. 426, 429, 216 S.W.2d 805, 807 (1949) ("The purpose of this rule [166] is to simplify and shorten the trial and limit 'the issues for trial to those not disposed of by admissions or agreements of counsel.' ... Of course, no controverted issues of fact could be adjudicated at this conference, but orders could be entered disposing of issues which are founded upon admitted or undisputed facts.”); Mason v. Tobin, 408 S.W.2d 243, 244 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston 1966, no writ) ("There is nothing in the rule [166] authorizing the trial court to determine the merits of the issues raised by the pleadings at a pre-trial hearing, where the parties do not agree to limit the issues, and the issues raised by the pleadings are not disposed of by admissions.”).