Texas 15th Court of Appeals

Texas 15th Court of Appeals, Breach of Contract

Elite Concepts v. Field — “Repair” Clause in Pool Construction Contract Encompasses Cost to Complete; Contractor Who Walks Off Job Cannot Claim Attorney’s Fees as Prevailing Party

automatic / June 8, 2026

The Fifteenth Court of Appeals held that a pool construction contract’s limitation of remedy to “repair” encompasses cost-to-complete damages as well as cost-to-repair, because construing “repair” to exclude unfinished work would render the contractor’s promise illusory; it also held that a contractor whose quantum meruit recovery is offset by the owner’s larger breach-of-contract damages award is not a “prevailing party” entitled to Chapter 38 attorney’s fees.

Texas 15th Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Oil & Gas, Probate, Real Estate

Parker v. Parrack — Court Cannot Declare Rights of Non-Party in Adverse Possession Dispute Over Family Ranch; Fiduciary-Duty Deed Challenge Fails on Sufficiency Review

automatic / June 8, 2026

The Fifteenth Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s finding that a sister did not breach her fiduciary duty in accepting a deed to mineral executive rights from her brother, but vacated the adverse-possession declaration because the company asserting ownership was never joined as a party, rendering the declaration advisory and jurisdictionally void.

Texas 15th Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional, healthcare

Cantu’s Pharmacy v. Texas HHSC — Medicaid Provider Has No Vested Right to Special Notice of Regulation Changes; Sovereign Immunity Bars Pre-Enforcement Suit

automatic / June 8, 2026

The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals held that a Medicaid pharmacy has no vested right to individualized notice of Provider Manual changes, that its pre-enforcement due process and declaratory judgment claims were barred by sovereign immunity, and that dismissal with prejudice was proper after the pharmacy amended its pleadings but still failed to state a cognizable claim.

Texas 15th Court of Appeals, Constitutional, Criminal

Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners v. Youniacutt — Automatic License Bar for Violent Felony Convictions Survives Constitutional Challenge

automatic / June 8, 2026

The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and dismissed challenges to Texas Occupations Code § 108.052(2)’s automatic denial of social worker licenses to applicants with prior violent felony convictions, holding that the categorical disqualification survives rational-basis review under Patel because protecting vulnerable patients is a legitimate government interest and the bar is not oppressively burdensome.

Texas 15th Court of Appeals, Insurance Coverage

Public Utility Commission v. City of Denton — Court Affirms Rate Decision Reversing Commission’s Mid-Proceeding RFP Change for Municipal Transmission Utility

automatic / June 8, 2026

The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling that the PUC’s mid-proceeding modification of its rate filing package without Texas Register publication was arbitrary and capricious, requiring application of the pre-amendment 0.25x debt service coverage adder presumption, while upholding the Commission’s exclusion of a municipal utility’s general fund transfer return-on-investment component as insufficiently substantiated.