In a per curiam opinion issued Friday, the Texas Supreme Court confirmed third-party plaintiffs do not have standing to assert claims for declaratory relief against a liability insurer before establishing the insurer’s legal obligation to pay damages . 

In In re Essex Insurance Company, the Court granted Essex’s request for mandamus relief after the trial court refused to dismiss declaratory judgment claims filed by Rafael Zuniga in a personal injury suit Zuniga filed against San Diego Tortilla (“SDT”).   Zuniga lost his hand while operating a tortilla machine at SDT’s manufacturing facility.  Zuniga alleged that he was working as an independent contractor at the time of the injury, not as SDT’s employee.