Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that an appellee is entitled to voluntary remittitur on rehearing. In this case, the court of appeals originally issued an opinion in which it found the evidence insufficient to support the amount of damages. Because liability was contested, the court reversed the judgment
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Judgments, Net Worth, and Supersedeas
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
Once again, a court of appeals has weighed in on the question of calculating net worth for purposes of supersedeas. The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that a trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to include the judgment as a liability in calculating the judgment debtor’s net worth. The court relied on the…
CLE Update
By Byron Henry on
Posted in News and Events
The Dallas Bar Association Appellate Section has announcd a program change for the February meeting to be held this Thursday, February 17th. Dana Livingston from Alexander Dubose & Townsend will present "Panel Roulette: What Fractured Fifth Circuit Opinions Teach Us About the Court’s Judges" at the meeting this Thursday.
Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson was originally scheduled to speak …
Deja vu all over again? Different name leads to reversal by restricted appeal
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that a default judgment containing a slightly different name than that contained in the citation constitutes error on the face of the record sufficient to justify reversal on restricted appeal. In this appeal, the court was faced with a citation and return of service for "Rone Engineers, Ltd."…
Wrong address leads to reversal by restricted appeal
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that notice of trial sent to an incorrect address constitutes error on the face of the record sufficient to warrant reversal on restricted appeal. Here, the trial court clerk sent notice of trial to the Plaintiffs at an address containing an incorrect suite number even though the file…
Texas District Courts Lack Jurisdiction to Grant Divorces to Same-Sex Couples
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Dallas Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s order denying a plea to the jurisdiction that had been filed by the Texas attorney general, who had intervened in the proceeding for the purpose of contesting jurisdiction. The court of appeals held that Texas district courts lack jurisdiction to grant divorces to same-sex couples legally married in…
Discovery of Federal Tax Returns Limited
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Discovery
The Tyler Court of Appeals recently confirmed that individual federal tax returns are discoverable to the extent they are relevant and material. In this case, the tax returns were relevant to the claims and the court found that the parties had agreed to the production of the returns. But that was not the end of the matter. …
Sanctions Payable Prior to Final Judgment Abuse of Discretion
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals recently held that an order directing that sanctions be paid prior to final judgment is an abuse of discretion unless the court makes express findings as to why the sanctions do not preclude the sanctioned party from continuing the lawsuit. In this case, the trial court awarded over $19,000…
Another Mandamus on Net Worth
By Byron Henry on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that a trial court abused its discretion by ordering production of irrelevant net worth information. The Court first acknowledged that "net worth is relevant and discoverable when punitive damages may be awarded." The Court noted the "corollary to that rule is that when punitive damages are not recoverable, information…
Get on board with e-briefs
By Byron Henry on
Posted in News and Events
With e-filing in the court of appeals right around the corner, there was a lot of talk about technology and e-briefs at the UT appellate CLE earlier this month. Some Texas Supreme Court justices even discussed their use of technology (Chief Justice Jefferson reads petitions for review on his Kindle), as well as their favorite blogs.
Our friend Don Cruse…