Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which opened and began accepting cases Sept. 1, will be tasked with determining whether Dallas County District Judge Emily Tobolowsky got it right when she rejected Texas’ request to halt a ban on guns at the State Fair. Texas has argued it pursued litigation to protect citizens’ gun rights. The defendants argue this case is actually about property rights.
A main point of contention in the briefing is whether the dispute centers on a bank loan — which would deprive the Fifteenth Court of Appeals of exclusive jurisdiction over the case under Texas Government Code section 25A.001(14) — or if it centers instead on a guaranty agreement. In the underlying case, parties on both sides of the dispute claim to have been the victims of a Ponzi scheme.
The history-making justice and chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court recounts his personal and family history at a ceremony unveiling his portrait. The great-great-great grandson of a once enslaved man who served on the Waco City Council during Reconstruction, Jefferson remembers ancestor Shedrick Willis along with the judge who once held Willis in bondage but later joined him in guiding Waco into a new era. (Photo by Mark Matson)
The $32 million estate of wealthy Laredo lawyer and businessman Carlos Benavides is at the center of the battle over a divorce initiated by his daughter and guardian. His fourth wife argues that her challenge to the divorce decree was not mooted by Benavides’ death amidst the appeal and that Texas law does not allow a guardian to petition for divorce on behalf of a ward. The daughter says that spousal lack of care for her mentally incapacitated father caused her to remove Benavides from his marital home. The Supreme Court this week is hearing other high-profile cases involving police immunity, defamation and professional discipline over a filing contesting the 2020 election.
The jurisdiction of the state’s new Fifteenth Court of Appeals has been challenged by a party in a dispute that had been on appeal before the First Court of Appeals in Houston. A total of 88 cases have been transferred to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals.
When Terry Bevill signed an affidavit in 2017 saying he didn’t think a friend could get a fair trial in Wood County in East Texas, he didn’t know he was signing the death certificate for his law enforcement career.
On Monday, a federal jury will determine if Bevill was wrongly fired.
The governor on Tuesday appointed David Gunn, 63, of Beck Redden to serve as the newest justice on the First Court of Appeals in Houston. He is filling the seat vacated by April Farris, who was appointed to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals by Gov. Greg Abbott in June. Justice Gunn’s term will expire in December 2026.
In an administrative order issued Aug. 26, the Texas Supreme Court transferred to the newly-created Fifteenth Court of Appeals 88 cases that had been pending with various intermediate appellate courts. It’s no surprise to observers that the bulk of the cases, 49, were transferred from the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, which formerly decided most cases involving state agencies that are headquartered in the capital.
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