Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. v. Steel

in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice ENOCH, Justice OWEN, Justice ABBOTT, Justice HANKINSON, Justice O’NEILL and Justice GONZALES joined.

This summary judgment case involves an alleged latent occupational disease. The sole issue is whether the trial court’s case management orders shifted the burden of proof from the movant, Rhone-Poulenc, to the nonmovants, the Steels, in a summary judgment proceeding under Rule 166a(c) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. Because Rule 166a(c) requires a summary judgment movant to prove it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we conclude that the…