The Travelers Insurance Company (the Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut), Petitioner v. Barry…

Summary

The Texas Supreme Court held that a trial court's erroneous dismissal of a suit with prejudice entered after the plaintiff's nonsuit is voidable, not void, because a nonsuit renders the merits moot without stripping the court of its jurisdiction to dispose of the case. Because Joachim never directly attacked the dismissal—through a Rule 329b motion, an appeal, or an equitable bill of review—it became a final determination on the merits that satisfied Travelers' res judicata defense. The Court accordingly reversed the court of appeals, which had treated the order as void, and rendered judgment dismissing Joachim's refiled suit with prejudice. No separate opinions were issued.