Gravely & Pearson Wins Appeal Before the Supreme Court of Texas in Commercial Insurance Dispute

Gravely & Pearson, the policyholders law firm, prevailed in the Supreme Court of Texas in an insurance coverage dispute arising out of extensive storm damage to a church in Corpus Christi. In a unanimous opinion in Christi Bay Temple v. GuideOne Specialty Mut. Ins. Co., the Supreme Court of Texas ruled in favor of the church, which had a commercial property insurance policy with GuideOne. The Christi Bay Temple filed suit when GuideOne failed to conduct a good faith investigation of the covered damage to the church’s buildings, and failed to pay all of the insurance benefits the church was owed. The case was dismissed by the trial court, which mistakenly held that the church’s property had been converted over to a non-profit corporation that was dissolved in 1983, and that the church therefore could not sue to recover the insurance coverage it was owed. The Supreme Court of Texas reversed the trial court and reinstated the case, holding that there was no evidence that Christi Bay Temple’s real property ever became the property of the dissolved corporation, and allowing the Church to go forward with the lawsuit.