In Re United Services Automobile Association, Relator.

Summary

The Texas Supreme Court conditionally granted USAA mandamus relief, directing the trial court to grant summary judgment for USAA on James Steven Brite's refiled age-discrimination claim under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. The court held that the TCHRA's two-year filing deadline is mandatory but not jurisdictional (overruling Schroeder v. Texas Iron Works to the extent it held otherwise) and that the section 16.064 tolling statute would ordinarily apply to TCHRA claims, but Brite's original county-court-at-law filing manifested 'intentional disregard of proper jurisdiction' because he knowingly sought damages exceeding the court's $100,000 cap while omitting the Rule 47(b) damages statement. Because limitations therefore ran uninterrupted, the second suit filed after the deadline expired is barred, and the prospect of a second trial on a time-barred claim constituted extraordinary circumstances justifying the writ.