06-0089 City of Waco v. Robert Lopez from Limestone County and the 10th District Court of Appeals, Waco For petitioner: Enid Wade, Waco For respondent: R. John Cullar, Waco The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue of whether Commission on Human Rights Act is exclusive remedy for retaliation claim. In this employment-discrimination case, the principal issues are (1) whether the Commission on Human Rights Act offers the exclusive remedy for a retaliation claim; (2) whether the city's equal employment-opportunity policy is a "law" under the state Whistleblower Act; (3) whether the act only applies to reporting law violations detrimental to the public good; and (4) whether an alleged equal-employment policy violation was reported in good faith to an appropriate law-enforcement agency. Lopez was fired after alleged misuse of a city vehicle and claims the firing was in response to his age- and race-discrimination complaint filed months earlier with the city's equal-employment opportunity officer. The city answered Lopez's Whistleblower Act suit with a jurisdictional plea and summary-judgment motion, which the trial court denied. The court of appeals affirmed.

Rory Lewis, M.D. v. Dewayne Funderburk from Limestone County and the 10th District Court of Appeals, Waco For petitioner: Andrew F. MacRae, Austin For respondent: Amy Thomas, Mexia The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue of whether Jurisdictional issue in appeal brought from denial to dismiss med-mal report. The principal issue is whether the court of appeals has jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from a trial court's refusal to strike an allegedly deficient expert report in a health-care liability claim. In this case Lewis objected to a second expert report Funderburk filed after the trial court granted him a 30-day extension to cure a defect in the original report. The trial court denied Lewis's objection to the second report and motion to dismiss. Lewis then appealed the ruling, but the court of appeals dismissed his case for lack of jurisdiction, holding that Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code section 51.014(a)(10) does not grant an interlocutory appeal to challenge the adequacy of an expert report.

In this dispute between a surface owner and the mineral-rights owner the issue is whether the accommodation doctrine requires the surface owner to prove he has no alternative for conducting his existing use of his property. In this case Merriman, a pharmacist who raised cattle in land he owned and leased, sued XTO for drilling on property he used to sort his cattle once a year and for grazing during the remainder. The trial court granted summary judgment for XTO and the court of appeals affirmed. Merriman argues that the appeals court's holding that he did not prove he had no other reasonable or practical use for his land improperly adds an element to the accommodation doctrine.

Among issues in this convoluted limited-partnership breakup are (1) whether two partners breached their partnership agreement by allowing the partnership to default on financing and selling its assets in foreclosure; (2) whether tort claims - trade-secret misappropriation and contract interference - can support conspiracy claims; and (3) whether the appeals court erred by permanently enjoining defendants based on a presumption of imminent harm.