Texas Supreme Court to decide whether amended pleading can cure missing certificate of merit

The Supreme Court of Texas heard argument in Studio E Architecture v. Limber (No. 240286) on whether a complaint dismissed without prejudice for failure to file a statutory certificate of merit can be cured by filing an amended petition that attaches the certificate, or whether the plaintiff must file a new action attaching the certificate. Petitioner’s counsel, identified in argument as Mister Alexander, told the court the statute requires a new action after a dismissal and urged the court to apply the rule uniformly whether a case has one defendant or many. “If a complaint filed by a plaintiff has been dismissed without prejudice because it failed to include the requisite certificate of merit, can that defect be cured by filing an amended petition attached to the certificate, or must the plaintiff…