In yet another show of support for mandatory arbitration, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that a duly assigned arbitrator has the power to decide a dispute, even when it involves conflicting court orders. The Lawbook’s Janet Elliott explains.
Will the 2018 Judicial Elections Breathe New Life into Factual Sufficiency Review?
Newly-elected judges on the Texas courts of appeals may soon revisit a firmly rooted – albeit faded – distinction between factual and legal sufficiency as they grapples with their differences with pro-business justices on the Texas Supreme Court. Specifically, courts of appeals may be able to limit state Supreme Court review by deciding cases based on factual sufficiency of the evidence. The Texas Lawbook has details.
TX Supremes Weigh Reliance on Contracts v. Texas Law
Mercedes-Benz is asking the Texas Supreme Court to declare that signed written contracts are sacrosanct and override all extra-contractual statements, even if those extra-contractual promises amount to felony fraud, directly contradict Legislative policy and cause severe financial harm to a Texas business. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Dispute Involving Apache to Continue in Arbitration, Appeals Court Rules
An appellate court ruled Thursday that the arbitrability of a $15 million legal dispute between Houston-based Apache Corp. and Fort Worth-based Wagner Oil Company will have to be debated in front of an arbitrator in Houston, not a trial court in Fort Worth as WOC had hoped.
Removal to Federal Court After the November 2018 Elections: More Incentive, But Less Receptiveness?
Could the swing of Texas’s big courts of appeals to Democratic majorities lead to more removals from state to federal court? Despite the hurdles federal courts have raised to removal jurisdiction over the years, the addition of five new judges to the Fifth Circuit certainly creates an opening.
A Study of Three Sentences: Potential New Perspectives by the Texas Courts of Appeal
Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Curtis said “questions of jurisdiction are questions of power.” That observation provides a useful lens to examine how three sentences from recent opinions by the Dallas Court of Appeals involve questions of power, and how they may illustrate areas where the newly-constituted Texas appellate courts may take new approaches.
Substantive Changes Coming to Courts of Appeals in Austin, Dallas & Houston
The unprecedented election last week of 20 Democratic candidates to the state courts of appeals in Austin, Dallas and Houston will have an almost immediate and substantive impact on civil litigation and issues such as enforcement of arbitration clauses, excessive use of Anti-SLAPP laws and deference to juries in large-dollar plaintiff’s verdicts.