Court Opinion

ID: 9618057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:05:55.215107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:23.594928
License: Public Domain

LARSEN Justice,
concurring.
Although I concur in the result reached by the majority, I write to admit I was wrong in joining our earlier panel opinion in Walton v. City of Midland, 24 S.W.3d 853, 857 (Tex.App.—El Paso 2000, no pet.). Specifically, I have concluded that a no-evidence motion for summary judgment, just as a motion for summary judgment under the traditional rule, must stand on its own merits, and that a motion under Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(i) that is conclusory or that does set out specifically the elements it challenges is may be challenged for the *277first time on appeal. Having read the San Antonio court’s opinion in Callaghan Ranch, Ltd. v. Killam, 53 S.W.3d 1, 3 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 2000, pet. denied) and that of the Houston Fourteenth court in Cuyler v. Minns, 60 S.W.3d 209, 212-14 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, no pet.h.). I believe their analysis on this issue is the correct one.
The comment to 166a(i) states that “[t]he motion must be specific in challenging the evidentiary support for an element of a claim or defense; paragraph (i) does not authorize conclusory motions or general no-evidence challenges to an opponent’s case.” (Emphasis added.) Thus, even where a nonmovant did not object or respond to the defective motion below, if it is conclusory, general, or does not state the elements as to which there is no evidence, it cannot support a judgment. This is the rule with traditional summary judgments, and I perceive the same policy reasons for applying it to no-evidence motions.
I therefore disagree with the majority’s statement that Walton waived his argument that the no-evidence summary judgment here by not objecting to a perceived failure to specify the challenged elements. Nevertheless, I agree that the motion here sufficiently raised a no-evidence challenge to causation, and therefore I believe the outcome is correct.