Texas Workers' Compensation Commission v. Garcia

in which GONZALEZ, HECHT, CORNYN, ENOCH, and OWEN, Justices, join.

This case requires us to decide whether various provisions of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act facially violate the Texas Constitution’s guarantees of open courts, due course of law, equal protection, jury trial, and obligation of contract. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals, 862 S.W.2d 61, and uphold the constitutionality of the Act.

I

In 1989, the Legislature enacted a new Workers’ Compensation Act1 restructuring-workers’ compensation in Texas. To understand the new Act and its effect on claims by injured…