Court Opinion

ID: 9620393
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:41:48.199407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:50.070163
License: Public Domain

SUE WALKER, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Appellant Fri-berg-Cooper Water Supply Corporation sued Appellee Bobby Elledge for unjust enrichment. The trial court granted summary judgment for Elledge on limitations grounds, applying the two-year statute of limitations. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 16.003 (Vernon 2002). In two issues, Friberg-Cooper claims that the trial court erred by applying the two-year statute of limitations and claims that the four-year statute of limitations is applicable to a claim for unjust enrichment.
Friberg-Cooper acknowledges that, traditionally, a two-year statute of limitations has governed claims for unjust enrichment. Friberg-Cooper points out, however, that following the 1979 amendments to the civil practice and remedies code, which eliminated the distinction between debts evidenced by a writing and other debts, some courts of appeals held that the four-year statute of limitations became applicable to unjust enrichment claims. See Amoco Prod. Co. v. Smith, 946 S.W.2d 162, 164-65 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1997, no writ); Vickory v. Summit Nat’l Bank, 702 S.W.2d 324, 324 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.). These courts did indeed apply a four-year statute to unjust enrichment claims. Other courts of appeals however nonetheless continued to apply the two-year statute of limitations to unjust enrichment claims. See, e.g., Cherokee Water Co. v. Advance Oil & Gas Co., 843 S.W.2d 132, 135 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 1992, writ denied). The Texas Supreme Court resolved this issue in Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Horwood, when it acknowledged that the courts of appeals were divided about the *834appropriate limitations period for unjust enrichment claims and indicated that in HECI it had noted that a two-year statute governs unjust enrichment claims. Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Horwood, 58 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Tex.2001) (citing HECI Exploration Co. v. Neel, 982 S.W.2d 881, 886 (Tex.1998)); see also Mobil Producing Tex. & N.M., Inc. v. Cantor, 93 S.W.3d 916, 919 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2002, no pet.) (citing HECI and holding that the trial court did not err by applying two-year statute to unjust enrichment claim); Mowbray v. Avery, 76 S.W.3d 663, 691 n. 48 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2002, pet. denied) (same). Because this court is bound by the supreme court’s precedent in Wagner & Brown and HECI, I would overrule Friberg-Cooper’s first issue. Because the majority does not, I respectfully dissent.