Pacific Employers Insurance Co. v. Severiano Torres

**Court Rules Employee Can Recover Attorney's Fees in Workers' Compensation Case** This case involved a dispute between Pacific Employers Insurance Company and employee Severiano Torres over a workers' compensation claim. After Torres won his workers' compensation case, the insurance company challenged the award in court through a process called judicial review. However, the insurance company later dropped their challenge (called a "nonsuit"), leaving Torres as the winner. The main issue was whether Torres could recover his attorney's fees from the insurance company for having to defend against their challenge. The trial court said yes and awarded Torres $25,175 in attorney's fees. Pacific Employers appealed this decision. The appeals court upheld the trial court's ruling, confirming that Torres was entitled to recover his attorney's fees under Texas Labor Code Section 408.221(c) because he was the "prevailing party" when the insurance company dropped their case. **What this means for workers:** If you win a workers' compensation case in Texas and your employer's insurance company challenges it in court but later drops that challenge, you may be able to recover the attorney's fees you spent defending your award. This helps protect workers from having to pay out-of-pocket legal costs when insurance companies make unsuccessful challenges to valid workers' compensation claims.