Ealey v. Insurance Company of North America

In Ealey v. Insurance Company of North America, 660 S.W.2d 50 (Tex. 1983), a workmen's compensation case, the Industrial Accident Board granted a compensation award to Ealey against Pacific Employers Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Insurance Company of North America (INA). Id. at 51. Pacific filed a notice of intention to appeal, naming itself as the party intending to appeal, but suit was later filed in the name of INA. Id. After the statutory time period to file suit passed, Pacific filed an amended petition naming itself as the appealing insurance carrier. Id. The Texas Supreme Court held that INA's petition gave fair notice of the appeal to Ealey, and that it was "clear from the petition and the prior proceeding that Pacific was the only carrier who could appeal," and that therefore Pacific's petition related back to INA's timely filed petition. Id. at 52, 53.