Supreme Court of Texas Update: Atkins N. Am., Inc. v. CCE, Inc.

Supreme Court of Texas

Supreme Court of Texas

Atkins N. Am., Inc. v. CCE, Inc.

No. 11-0481

Case Summary written by Allison Grayson, Online Edition Editor.

Per curiam.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) hired a general contractor for a road construction project, which involved plans created by Atkins North America, Inc. After silt began escaping onto nearby property, TxDOT directed CCE to rid the property of the silt.

TxDOT later declared CCE in default of its direction when CCE failed to comply. Upon receipt of an order from TxDOT to stop work, “CCE hired a third party to complete the road project, then sued Atkins for the additional costs, alleging that Atkin’s plans were faulty and led to the release of the silt.” CCE’s claims included negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and breach of warranty.

In response, Atkins moved for summary judgment under the notion that “the economic loss rule barred recovery of negligence damages[.]” Atkins refrained from making the same arguments in terms of its negligent misrepresentation claim. The trial court granted Atkin’s motion for summary judgment. While the court of appeals affirmed part of the trial court’s ruling, the court remanded the case for a closer look at CCE’s negligent misrepresentation claim.

ISSUE: Whether the Supreme Court of Texas should grant Atkin’s motion for rehearing?

In this instance, the Court refrained from rehearing the case. In explaining its decision, the Court stated that “the economic loss rule barred a general contractor from recovering delay damages from project architect with which it did not contract.”

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