When I don’t want oral argument or don’t think it is necessary, my standard operating procedure has been to (1) put nothing regarding oral argument on the front cover of my brief, and (2) include a Statement Regarding Oral Argument in the brief explaining why it has not been requested but adding a statement that, if the Court
Appellate Rules
The Digital Revolution is Coming to State Appellate Practices
On Friday, April 17th and Saturday, April 18th, the Texas Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee will be meeting to discuss proposed changes to the Texas Rules of Procedure. Among the proposed changes are changes that will permit electronic filings in the appellate courts.
For more information on the location and time of the meeting, click…
When Appellees Don’t File a Brief
The Amarillo Court of Appeals recently confronted an issue not addressed by the appellate rules. While Rule 38.8(a) applies in the event the appellant fails to file a brief, the rules are silent with respect to an appellee’s failure to do so. The Court weighed its options:
Appellees’ failure to file a brief leaves this
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Question Regarding Mandate
To all you appellate gurus out there, here’s an appellate procedure question: When does the court of appeals’ mandate issue when the Texas Supreme Court has denied a petition for review and subsequently denied a motion for rehearing of the petition for review?
TRAP 18 controls issuance of the appellate mandate. The timetable is based…
Mandamus waiver
The Houston Fourteenth District Court of Appeals has held that a Relator must challenge all possible grounds supporting a trial court’s ruling by its Petition for Writ of Mandamus or the Relator waives its complaint. In In re TCW Global Project Fund II, Ltd., No. 14-08-00116-CV (Sept. 24, 2008), the Relator filed a Petition…