Street v. Honorable Second Court of Appeals

OPINION

PHILLIPS, Chief Justice.

The question presented is when an underlying tort action becomes final so that a defendant may institute a Stowers action against its insurer. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to abate the insured’s Stowers action, together with certain interventions, merely because the underlying tort action was still pending on appeal. Therefore, we conditionally order the court of appeals to vacate its conditional writ of mandamus directing the trial court to abate all causes of action against the insurer.

The underlying lawsuit arose out…