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Appellate Law

Texas Appellate Law Blog

Civil appellate practice tips, resources, and news on matters before the Texas appellate courts.
By D. Todd Smith

Post Frequency: 3.6/day

Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 10:25:22

Third Court Upholds Future Mental Anguish Award

Posted on February 03, 2009
In Hyde Park Baptist Church v. Turner (No. 03-07-00437-CV), a case involving allegations that a young child suffered abuse at the hands of a church daycare worker, the Third Court of Appeals has affirmed a money judgment that included a significant award for future mental anguish...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 1/30/09

Posted on January 30, 2009
The Texas Supreme Court released no new opinions with this week's regular orders. What struck me about these orders is the unusually high number of cases abated in light of bankruptcy proceedings. I suppose that's a sign of the times.

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinion 1/23/09

Posted on January 23, 2009
The Texas Supreme Court issued one decision with this week's exceptionally short set of regular Friday orders. In In re Watkins (No. 06-0653), the Court denied mandamus relief from an order granting the plaintiff a 30-day extension of time for filing an expert report under CPRC § 74...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 1/16/09

Posted on January 16, 2009
The Texas Supreme Court issued no new opinions with this week's regular orders. It did, however, release a corrected opinion in Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas, Inc. v. Hogue (04-0575) that clarified when the 2003 amendments to the statutory interest rate became effective...

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Legislative Watch 2009

Posted on January 13, 2009
Today marks the beginning of the 81st Texas Legislature. A number of bills that would affect litigators and appellate practitioners are expected, many of which failed to pass during the last session. I will be keeping an eye on noteworthy bills as they are introduced and will comment on them as my workload permits...

Marketing Your Practice in 140 Characters or Less

Posted on January 12, 2009
Having seen some of my blog posts about Twitter, the folks at Texas Lawyer approached me about writing an article explaining it from a hands-on perspective. The result of my efforts, entitled "Marketing Your Practice in 140 Characters or Less," appears in today's issue...

Marketing Your Practice in 140 Characters or Less

Posted on January 11, 2009
Having seen some of my blog posts about Twitter, the folks at Texas Lawyer approached me about writing an article explaining it from a hands-on perspective. The result of my efforts, entitled "Marketing Your Practice in 140 Characters of Less," appears in today's issue...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 1/9/09

Posted on January 09, 2009
The Texas Supreme Court issued four decisions with this week's regular orders, the first set released in 2009. All of the opinions and available electronic briefs and oral argument audio files are available through this link. To review Osler McCarthy's summaries, click here.

Internet-Based Practice Management Solutions

Posted on January 06, 2009
Regular readers of this blog know that I'm interested in technology and how it impacts law practice. In keeping with that interest, I wrote an article for the January issue of the Texas Bar Journal entitled "Internet-Based Practice Management Solutions...

Happy New Year (and Second Birthday Texas Appellate Law Blog)!

Posted on January 01, 2009
Two years ago today, I launched this blog—the first of its kind in Texas— to engage folks who are interested in or involved with civil appellate issues. As was the case last New Year's Day, publishing content and interacting with readers remains very fulfilling, and the blog continues to open doors for my practice...

Texas Lawyers to Follow on Twitter

Posted on December 23, 2008
Borrowing an idea from JD Scoop, I have decided to compile and maintain an index of Texas lawyers, legal professionals, and firms who actively use Twitter. The alphabetical list (by username) appears below. Like everything else, Twitter is what you make of it...

Texas Lawyers to Follow on Twitter

Posted on December 23, 2008
Last Updated 1/12/09: Borrowing an idea from JD Scoop, I have decided to compile and maintain an index of Texas lawyers, legal professionals, and firms who actively use Twitter. The alphabetical list (by username) appears below...

Flying Solo in Appellate Law

Posted on December 22, 2008
pimg alt="Faculty @ SPU" align="left" src="http://solopracticeuniversity.com/member-badges/spu-faculty-125x125.jpg" //p pIn early 2006, when I first seriouslynbsp;pondered leavingnbsp;BigLaw and opening a solonbsp;practice, I foundnbsp;a great deal ofnbsp;information and supportnbsp;through various listservs and blogs...

Flying Solo in Appellate Law

Posted on December 22, 2008
In early 2006, when I first seriously pondered leaving BigLaw and opening a solo practice, I found a great deal of information and support through various listservs and blogs. Even still, making the leap was daunting, largely because I had little training or experience relevant to the unique, day-to-day challenges running a solo practice brings...

Microblog Roundup 12/20/08

Posted on December 20, 2008
pA sample of my microblog entries thus far in Decembernbsp;appears below. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at a href="http://twitter.com/dtoddsmith"@dtoddsmith/a./p p style="margin-left: 40px"Thanks to @glambert for including me as nos...

Microblog Roundup 12/20/08

Posted on December 20, 2008
A sample of my microblog entries thus far in December appears below. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith. Thanks to @glambert for including me as nos. 32, 45, 65 & 125 in the "'Must Read' Blog Posts of 2008" at http://is...

Texas Supreme Court Orders Opinions 12/19/08

Posted on December 19, 2008
pThe Texas Supreme Court issued a href="http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/Historical/121908.asp"fivenbsp;new opinions/a and one supplemental opinion on rehearing with a href="http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2008/DEC/121908.htm"this week's regularnbsp;orders/a, itsnbsp;last set for 2008...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 12/19/08

Posted on December 19, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued five new opinions and one supplemental opinion on rehearing with this week's regular orders, its last set for 2008. The next regular orders will be released on Friday, January 9, 2009. Osler McCarthy's opinion summaries are available here.

More Oral Arguments?

Posted on December 16, 2008
As I prepare for an oral argument tomorrow, I came across this article from Texas Lawyer reporting that the intermediate appellate courts are granting argument in more cases. That's welcome news, if it holds up. The article quotes incoming Third Court Chief Justice Woodie Jones as supporting a default position that the Court should grant oral argument...

Let the 2010 Judicial Races Begin!

Posted on December 12, 2008
Shortly after the election, I mentioned having heard rumblings that a sitting justice on the Third Court of Appeals may be leaving. I haven't brought it up again because I hadn't confirmed it directly with the judge in question, but with this story, the news has been broken...

Texas Supreme Court Orders 12/12/08

Posted on December 12, 2008
After a week filled with oral arguments, the Texas Supreme Court released no new opinions with this week's regular orders. The Court will be in conference on Monday and Tuesday, so we'll likely see some decisions next Friday.

Chief Justice Jones to Preside Starting January 14

Posted on December 11, 2008
Incoming Third Court of Appeals Chief Justice Woodie Jones won't take office for a few more weeks, but he is already showing up on the Court's January oral argument calendar. After next Wednesday (when I happen to be arguing a case), the Court's next oral submission date is January 14, 2009, with the Chief presiding over the morning panel...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 12/5/08

Posted on December 05, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued four new decisions with this week's orders. Links to the opinions are available here. The two signed opinions involved mandamus actions. (The other two were per curiam opinions on petitions for review.) I haven't looked at the statistics, but it seems as if the Court has put out more mandamus decisions than usual lately.

Blogging Break

Posted on December 04, 2008
You may have noticed that things haven't been very active here at the Texas Appellate Law Blog over the last few weeks. I've had plenty of things to write about, but just haven't found the time to sit down and put together coherent posts on those subjects that add any significant value...

Microblog Roundup 11/25/08

Posted on November 25, 2008
A sample of my microblog entries from the past week appears below. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith. Just got word in one of my cases that a federal district judge has granted my side's motion to remand, pending since early 2008...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 11/21/08

Posted on November 21, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court issued two new opinions with this week's regular orders. They are: Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Sheppard (No. 06-0845), holding that, under the applicable pooling clauses, expiration of a lease in a pool of oil-and-gas-producing properties did not destroy the mineral interest owner's participation in the pooled unit...

Microblog Roundup 11/18/08

Posted on November 18, 2008
A sample of my microblog updates from the past week appears below. To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith. ABA Journal surveying lawyers about job market and state of economy. Results to be published in Jan. issue: http://tinyurl...

Weber Named First Assistant AG

Posted on November 14, 2008
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has named my friend Andrew Weber (pictured) First Assistant Attorney General. He replaces Kent Sullivan, who Governor Perry recently appointed to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals. Aside from his legal skills, Andrew is a heck of a nice guy...

Texas Supreme Court Orders & Opinions 11/14/08

Posted on November 14, 2008
The Texas Supreme Court decided seven new cases with this week's orders. For details, please see Osler McCarthy's case summaries, which I have made available here.

Follow the Texas Supreme Court Via RSS

Posted on November 14, 2008
Hat tip to the Supreme Court of Texas Blog for pointing out that the Court has enabled RSS feeds via its home page. As the following screenshot shows, the subscribe button is located just above the Court's photo. The feeds include news and updates, as well as information from the Court's calendar...

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