Court Opinion

ID: 9748067
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:50:51.210553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:31.207033
License: Public Domain

BOB PEMBERTON, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the majority’s opinion except for its holding that appellant Truck Insurance Exchange’s contribution claim against appellee Mid-Continent Casualty Company is barred by res judicata arising from Mid-Continent’s prior federal court judgment. However, I agree with the majority that the district court’s summary judgment as to this claim should be affirmed based on Mid-Continent’s alternative ground that the “other insurance” clauses in the Truck and Mid-Continent policies negate a right of contribution on the part of Truck against Mid-Continent. See Midi-Continent Ins. Co. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 236 S.W.3d 765, 772 (Tex.2007); Employers Cas. Co. v. Transport Ins. Co., 444 S.W.2d 606, 609 (Tex.1969); Traders & Gen. Ins. Co. v. Hicks Rubber Co., 140 Tex. 586, 169 S.W.2d 142, 147 (1943). Although the Fifth Circuit has recently concluded that other-insurance clauses apply only to the duty to indemnify and not to the duty to defend, and thus do not bar a contribution claim for defense costs, see Trinity Universal Ins. Co. v. Employers Mut. Cas. Co., 592 F.3d 687, 694 (5th Cir.2010), the controlling Texas Supreme Court precedents that bind this Court appear to give effect to other-insurance clauses with respect to both indemnity and defense costs, see Employers, 444 S.W.2d at 607 (“[T]he claim here is for a pro rata *625part of the sums paid in settlement of the suit against the insured and as expenses in defending the suit.”); Hicks, 169 S.W.2d at 148 (“When [one insurer] refused to further assist in the defense of the ... suit, [the other co-insurer] shouldered the entire burden, including the appeals.... In so doing it paid out more than two-thirds of the costs and expenses incurred”). Relying on these precedents unless and until the supreme court tells us otherwise, I agree with the majority that Truck’s contribution claim for defense costs is barred as a matter of law.
Accordingly, I join in the judgment and, with these qualifications, the majority’s opinion.