scotx

Subscribe to scotx via RSS

Last year–the calendar year from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024–was a productive year for the state’s highest civil court. By my count, the court disposed of 124 causes during the year. This is a significant increase above the court’s usual disposition rate. Some of the court’s production might be attributable to the departure…

I am late in getting these statistics from the 2023 calendar year posted, but as they say, better late than never.

Unanimity. One statistic that I have tracked in recent years is the number of unanimous opinions authored by a justice. This statistic may be an indicator that a justice works with his or…

            This term the Texas Supreme Court issued a succession of rulings favoring arbitration agreements and refusing to recognize various defenses.  It rejected a claim of unconscionability due to excessive costs, held a nonsignatory bound to arbitrate by direct-benefits estoppel, and held that incorporation of AAA Commercial Rules into a contract constitutes a clear and…

I continue to track the statistics on the number of petitions for review granted by the Texas Supreme Court where the court of appeals wrote an “Opinion,” versus those where the court of appeals wrote a “Memorandum Opinion.” My prior years’ statistical analysis have dispelled the notion that if the court of appeals writes a…

Parties (and their counsel) to a court of appeals’ disposition of an appeal sometimes worry that if the court disposed of the appeal by issuing a “Memorandum Opinion” instead of an “Opinion,” the chances of obtaining review by the Texas Supreme Court will be diminished.  Statistics in recent years have helped to dispel this concern. …

Early last year, I wrote about the split among the Texas courts of appeals on whether mandamus relief is available to challenge a trial court’s ruling striking a Section 18.001 counteraffidavit.  Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 18.001 counteraffidavits are used by defendants to contest the reasonableness and necessity of a claimant’s affidavit proof of…