Recent Articles

Net Worth and Supersedeas

March 15, 2012 22:51

The Dallas Court of Appeals has reaffirmed its opinion in Anderton v. Cauley, in which the court held that the trial court's judgment being appealed is not to be included as a liability of the judgment debtor in calculating the judgment debtor's net worth for purposes of determining the amount of...

Continuing Education opportunity

March 14, 2012 00:07

The Dallas Bar Association Appellate Law Section is having its monthly meeting Thursday, March 15, 2012, at noon at the Belo Mansion. The speaker is Diana Faust of Cooper & Scully, P.C.  She will be addressing Supersedeas Issues in State and Federal Court.  One hour of CLE credit is...

Failure to Comply with an Appellate Mandate

February 29, 2012 23:22

What happens when a trial court ignores the court of appeals' mandate? Answer: The trial judge gets a little visit to the principal's office.  Last year, in Elite Door & Trim, Inc. v. Tapia,  the Dallas Court of Appeals held that the trial court had erred in...

Attorney disqualification redux

February 28, 2012 16:14

The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently reaffirmed that "[t]he fact that a lawyer serves as both an advocate and a witness does not, standing alone, compel disqualification."  Here, the court also restated the well-settled rule that disqualification of counsel is subject to...

41.0105 -- post-judgment reduction does not cure error

February 24, 2012 20:12

I have been waiting and watching for post-Haygood opinions, and the Amarillo Court of Appeals delivered a great opinion this week with Henderson v. Spann.  In a 2-1 opinion, the panel held that the trial court's admission of unadjusted medical bills and exclusion of adjusted medical...

Failure to Announce for Trial May Result in Dismissal

February 10, 2012 16:14

Can the failure to announce ready for trial be a basis for dismissal of the suit?  The answer is apparently "yes." Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 165a allows a court to dismiss a case for want of prosecution for failure of any party seeking affirmative relief to appear for any hearing...

Appellate CLE Opportunity: Appellate Mediation

February 10, 2012 16:03

The Dallas Bar Association Appellate Law Section will have its monthly luncheon on Thursday, February 16, 2012, at noon at the Belo Mansion.  The topic is "Positioning Your Appeal for Successful Mediation."  Speakers include Vikram Chandhok (Fifth Circuit Conference Attorney),...

Texas Supreme Court confirms that temporary employees are subject to the comp bar

January 31, 2012 14:00

In Port Elevator-Brownsville, L.L.C. v. Casados, the Texas Supreme Court reaffirmed this State's prohibition on split workforces (i.e., Texas employers are not permitted to cover some but not all employees with worker's compensation insurance if the employer is a subscriber), and confirmed that a...

When does "expedite" mean "eliminate"?

January 26, 2012 21:12

The Texas Supreme Court's Advisory Committee will be meeting Friday, January 27th and Saturday, January 28th to discuss--among other things--the proposal that the Court's task force has assembled to implement House Bill 274.  In relevant part, House Bill 274 requires the Court to adopt...

Temporary injunction rules vs. Arbitration: which one is superior?

January 25, 2012 16:22

The Texas arbitration statutes contemplate that a trial court has jurisdiction to issue an injunction in support of an arbitration.  So what happens if the trial court issues a temporary injunction but the form of the injunction does not (and cannot) comply with Rule 683? ...