{"id":895659,"date":"2019-03-27T12:40:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T18:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895659"},"modified":"2019-03-27T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T18:40:09","slug":"certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nicholas J. Nieto | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=0f31be75-2416-43fc-8e72-4ae82d7ffb24&amp;utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&amp;utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&amp;utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&amp;utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2019-03-20&amp;utm_term=\">Kilpatrick Townsend &amp; Stockton<\/a> | March 18, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a lawsuit \u201cfor damages arising out of the provision of professional services by licensed or registered professional,\u201d the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code requires a plaintiff to file with the complaint an expert affidavit supporting each theory of recovery. Tex. Civ. Prac. &amp; Rem. Code 150.002. The failure to file a certificate of&nbsp;merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Tex. Civ. Prac. &amp; Rem. Code 150.002(e). The dismissal may be with&nbsp;prejudice.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, the Texas Supreme Court issued a much-needed opinion clarifying whether a court\u00a0<em>must<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>may<\/em>\u00a0dismiss with prejudice.\u00a0<em>Pedernal Energy, LLC v. Bruington Eng\u2019g, Ltd.<\/em>, 536 S.W.3d 487, 492 (Tex. 2017);\u00a0<em>see<\/em>\u00a0Part I of &#8220;Certificate of Merit &#8211; 2017 in Review&#8221; for additional information. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals recently addressed this issue, holding the trial court was within its discretion to dismiss\u00a0with\u00a0prejudice Texas Southern University\u2019s professional malpractice claims due to its failure to file a certificate of merit.\u00a0<em>Texas S. Univ. v. Kirksey Architects, Inc.<\/em>, 14-18-00146-CV, 2019 WL 922296, at *9 (Tex. App.\u2014Houston [14th Dist.] Feb. 26, 2019, no pet. h.). In\u00a0<em>Kirksey<\/em>, TSU filed suit against its architect and construction engineers for the allegedly defective design and construction of campus building, but failed to file certificate of merit.\u00a0<em>Id<\/em>. at *1. The court recognized that, although courts have the discretion to dismiss such claim with prejudice, they may not do so arbitrarily or unreasonably.\u00a0<em>Id<\/em>. at *6. Further, in making this decision, courts must consider various factors given the facts and circumstances of the particular case.\u00a0<em>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In support of its holding, the&nbsp;<em>Kirksey<\/em>&nbsp;court highlighted that TSU was aware of the issues with the building at least seven years before filing suit.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. at *8. TSU even hired several consultants to investigate and report on the issues.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. No action was taken by TSU in response.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. In 2014, TSU commissioned new studies and surveys to detail the building\u2019s issues and estimate costs for repair.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. The court could not understand how, in light of these investigations, TSU failed to obtain the necessary affidavits before filing its original petition in July of 2017.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. Further, the court took issue with TSU\u2019s failure to supplement its petition with a certificate of merit before the trial court issued its dismissal order.&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>. According to the court, this fact alone distinguished TSU\u2019s case from those in which the court dismissed&nbsp;without&nbsp;prejudice.&nbsp;<em>See, e.g., Pedernal<\/em>, 536 S.W.3d at 490;&nbsp;<em>see also CDI Corp. v. TOTAL Specialties USA, Inc.<\/em>, 528 S.W.3d 802, 807 (Tex. App.\u2014Houston [14th Dist.] 2017, no pet.)( \u201cA certificate of merit was obtained and filed with TOTAL\u2019s notice of nonsuit within four months after CDI\u2019s motion to dismiss notified TOTAL\u2019s counsel of the mistake.\u201d);&nbsp;<em>see also TDIndustries, Inc. v. United Nat&#8217;l Ins. Co.<\/em>, No. 07-16-00231-CV, 2017 WL 2334234, at *2 (Tex. App.\u2014Amarillo May 23, 2017, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (\u201cUnited\u2019s ability to produce an expert\u2019s affidavit at the hearing is a factor the trial court could have considered in its decision whether to dismiss the case with prejudice.\u201d). Moving forward, the&nbsp;<em>Kirksey<\/em>&nbsp;opinion will ultimately assist in identifying the conduct necessary to warrant dismissal with prejudice under Section 150.002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nicholas J. Nieto | Kilpatrick Townsend &amp; Stockton | March 18, 2019 In a lawsuit \u201cfor damages arising out of the provision of professional services by licensed or registered professional,\u201d the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code requires a plaintiff to file with the complaint an expert affidavit supporting each theory of recovery. Tex. Civ.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172],"tags":[9895,9276,27],"class_list":["post-895659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-law-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-certificate-of-merit","tag-construction-law","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"Certificate of Merit\",\"construction law\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction Law\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\",\"name\":\"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice","datePublished":"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/"},"wordCount":566,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise &amp; Consult","Certificate of Merit","construction law"],"articleSection":["Construction Law"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/","name":"Update on Certificate of Merit Requirement: Dismissal With or Without Prejudice - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-27T18:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-27T18:40:09+00:00","description":"failure to file a certificate of merit requires a court to dismiss the lawsuit. Texas clarified whether a court must or may dismiss with prejudice","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/certificate-of-merit-dismissal-with-or-without-prejudice\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3L07","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895660,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895659\/revisions\/895660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}