Construction Law—The SCOTX Report

23-0842·Petition For Review

Equitable estoppel may be applied against a city in an exceptional case where justice requires it and it does not interfere with governmental functions: a city's mere mistaken issuance of a permit is not enough, but affirmative misdirection, an inspection-approved amended permit, and an "OK TO FINISH" notice were enough here.
A city need not have received a benefit from its misrepresentation for estoppel to apply; benefit is a factor that weighs in favor of the exception, not a requirement.

23-0848·Petition For Review

Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 97.002, which extinguishes liability of a contractor that constructs or repairs a highway, road or street "for" TxDOT and complies with contract documents material to the defect, does not require contractual privity with TxDOT, and the court of appeals erred by engrafting one onto the text.
The contractors conclusively established that they worked "for" TxDOT because TxDOT would bear responsibility for operating and maintaining the frontage roads they worked on, and that installing traffic signals is construction or repair of a "highway"; the remaining element, contract compliance, was remanded to the court of appeals.

25-0089·Petition For Review

The Court granted two petitions for review in a dispute over a natural gas processing plant construction contract and, on the parties' joint motion under Rule 56.3 and without argument or considering the merits, vacated the trial court's and court of appeals' judgments and remanded for rendition of judgment under their settlement agreement.
The petitions had asked whether the Texas Prompt Payment Act's exemption for mineral development and oilfield services covers a contract to engineer and build a gas plant, and whether the contractor's underlying contract claim failed.

25-0374·Petition For Review

Does Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 150.002 require a certificate-of-merit affiant to hold the same state appointment as an appointed qualified inspector, or only the same professional license and area of practice?
Does a certificate of merit filed in a prior, dismissed suit and on file when the new third-party petition was filed satisfy the requirement to file it "with the complaint"?

25-1045·Petition For Review

Under Government Code section 2253.078(a), does a public work contract terminate, and the one-year limitations period on a performance-bond claim begin, when the owner terminates the contractor's right to proceed and demands performance from the surety?
Or does the contract, which the court of appeals held includes the bond, survive until the surety's own conduct under the bond ends, so that a suit filed 14 months after the county's termination notice is timely?

25-1097·Petition For Review

Does a subcontract clause saying the work "shall be done under the direction of and to the satisfaction of" the general contractor create contractual control over the means and methods of a subcontractor's work, even though other provisions put the subcontractor in charge of the work and its safety?
If not, did the general contractor exercise actual control over the injury-causing work, an alternative ground the court of appeals did not decide?

26-0206·Mandamus

Justice Young dissented from the denial of mandamus to three construction companies whose request under Rule 190.5(b) to reopen discovery on an alleged design change was refused by the trial court on the eve of trial, saying denial was premature and the trial should have been stayed.
The Court had asked for a response but trial was set to begin before it was due, and the response to the stay motion offered only a conclusory defense of the discovery ruling.