The Texas Supreme Court released opinions in one merits decision with today’s order list. The remainder of the order list contained routine denials of review.

Today’s decision is in Benny P. Phillips, M.D. v. Dale Bramlett, No. 07-052, a case about the interaction between two parts of Article 4590i, the medical-liability cap that preceded the 2003 reform statute — its overall liability cap and an exception to that cap where the common-law Stowers doctrine applies.

The Court was divided 5-4 over the judgment. I’ll post a case summary soon.

For those who want to read ahead, the majority opinion was written by Justice Medina, joined by Justice Wainwright, Justice Brister, Justice Johnson, and Justice Willett. A dissenting opinion was written by Justice O’Neill, joined by Chief Justice Jefferson, Justice Hecht, and Justice Green.