06-0890 Nabors Drilling, U.S.A. Inc. v. Francisca Escoto, et al. from Willacy County and the 13th District Court of Appeals, Corpus Christi/Edinburg For petitioner: Reagan W. Simpson, Houston For respondents: Alex M. Miller, San Antonio The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue of whether employer has duty to protect against danger of its fatigued employee en route home. The principal issues are (1) whether an employer has a duty to protect third parties from a fatigued employee en route home after a 12-hour shift and (2) whether the employee has a duty to train its employees about the dangers of fatigue. In this case Escoto sued Nabors after four members of her family died in a car accident allegedly caused by Nabor's employee on his way home after working five 12-hour graveyard shifts. Escoto alleged that Nabors was liable it had a duty to protect other people when its employee drove home after a exhausting shift and because the company failed to train its employees how to handle fatigue. The trial court entered a judgment in Nabor's favor after a jury verdict for Escoto, reasoning that Nabor did not owe a duty to Escoto. The court of appeals reversed.

The issues in this challenge to a tax-appraisal district's ownership determination bare (1) whether the district has authority to change who owns grain on the county's tax rolls: (2) whether the trial court erred by considering a fraud claim that was not presented to the appraisal board; and (3) whether sufficient evidence supported the trial court's fraud finding.