SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS JANET RICHARDS, MELVIN RICHARDS, AND AMANDA CULVER MEALS, APPELLANTS, V. STATE FARM LLOYDS, APPELLEE ON CERTIFIED QUESTION FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Argued January 8, 2020 OPINION DELIVERED: March 20, 2020 EXCERPTS/SUMMARY BY JUNFOLA 4/5/20

ISSUES:

Duty to Defend

Eight Corners

Groundless, false, fraudulent

Insured exclusion

Motor vehicle exclusion

The Fifth Circuit certified the following question to this Court:

Is the policy-language exception to the eight-corners rule articulated in B. Hall Contracting Inc. a permissible exception under TX law?

No. State Farm did not contract away the eight-corners rule merely by omitting from its policy an express agreement to defend claims that are “groundless, false or fraudulent.”