in Re Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company ( 2015 )

Opinion issued June 4, 2015
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-15-00003-CV
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IN RE ALLSTATE FIRE AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY,
Relator
Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relator Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company asks us to direct the
trial court to amend its October 23, 2014 order to abate discovery on Plaintiffs’
severed extra-contractual and bad faith claims until there has been a full and final
resolution of Plaintiffs’ breach of contract claims. 1 Allstate has presented no record
1
The underlying case is Charlene T. Howard and William D. Howard v. Allstate
Fire & Casualty Insurance Company and Lisa Graves, cause number 14-DCV-
215228, pending in the 434th District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, the
Honorable James H. Shoemake presiding.
reflecting that it has been served any discovery requests on extra-contractual or bad
faith claims, other than a request for disclosure. Allstate has made no showing that
it has been subjected to discovery requests that are overbroad, burdensome,
irrelevant to the breach of contract claim, or otherwise prejudicial. Absent such a
showing, we leave management of discovery to the trial court’s discretion. See In
re Loya Ins. Co., 01-10-01054-CV, 2011 WL 3505434, at *3 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] Aug. 11, 2011, orig. proceeding). Accordingly, we deny the petition for
writ of mandamus.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Higley and Massengale.
2