The Houston Court of Appeals (14th) recently held that a party may not avoid exclusion of an undisclosed expert by simply calling the witness to rebut previous testimony. Appellee failed to timely disclose an expert. The trial court allowed the expert to testify at trial over appellant’s objection. On appeal, the appellant argued that the
Commingling of Theories under Casteel
By Mike Northrup on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals issued a couple of opinions in Young v. Thota addressing an alleged jury charge error. In this medical negligence case, the alleged charge error relates to whether the trial court should have submitted an issue asking whether the plaintiff was contributorily negligent or whether the plaintiff’s acts raised mitigation of damages questions. The majority concludes that it…
Notice of appeal not required to name all orders
By Mike Northrup on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
Following rendition of a final, appealable judgment, does a notice of appeal have to name all preceeding interlocutory orders as a prerequisite to complaining of those orders? Apparently not. This has been a question of concern for many appellate practitioners and it’s a question that’s been percolating around in the courts of appeals. We now…
Preserving Error When Trial Court Refuses to Rule on Motion
By David Oliveros on
Posted in Opinions & Judgments
What is the proper procedure to preserve error when a trial court refuses to rule on a motion for default judgment?
In Old Republic Insurance Co. v. Sisavath, the trial court refused to rule on the plaintiff’s motion for default judgment and eventually dismissed the case for want of prosecution.
On appeal, the plaintiff argued…