You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the decisions and verdicts that decide how Texas workers' compensation / non-subscriber claims are won and lost. Below are real, publicly reported Texas cases — what happened, what they established, and why each matters to someone with a claim today.
Texas workers' compensation / non-subscriber cases that shape your claim
Kroger Co. v. KengTexas Supreme Court · 2000
23 S.W.3d 347 — non-subscribers can’t blame the worker
A Kroger employee was knocked off a ladder by falling boxes. Kroger, a non-subscriber, tried to put her own comparative fault to the jury. The court said no — because § 406.033 bars a contributory-negligence finding, the employer couldn’t get a comparative-fault question at all.
Why it matters to your case: If your employer illegally opted out of workers’ comp, it cannot reduce your recovery by blaming you — the jury decides only whether the employer was negligent.
In re East Texas Medical Center AthensTexas Supreme Court · 2025
712 S.W.3d 88 — a key recent limit
A nurse at a non-subscriber hospital was hurt by a contract EMT. The hospital sought to designate the EMT and his employer as responsible third parties. The court held that while § 406.033 strips the three classic defenses, it does not stop a non-subscriber from pointing to a genuinely responsible third party.
Why it matters to your case: Your non-subscriber employer may try to shift blame to a contractor or co-worker — which makes identifying and suing everyone responsible critical from the start.
These are publicly reported cases and general legal developments, provided for educational purposes only. They are not results obtained by Newman Injury Law, and past results do not predict the outcome of any case. Every claim depends on its own facts.