Peggy Woods v. William M. Mercer

This is a suit against an insurance agent and an insurance carrier for failure to provide professional liability insurance. The principal question presented is whether the party seeking to benefit from the discovery rule to avoid the statute of limitations has the burden of pleading and proving the requirements of the discovery rule in a trial on the merits. We hold that it does. For this reason, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals that plaintiff take nothing against her insurance agent because her action was barred by limitations. 717 S.W.2d 391. We further hold that plaintiff established some evidence that the carrier committed a deceptive trade practice and, thus, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals affirming a judgment non obstante veredicto for the carrier.