The Texas Supreme Court issued seven opinions this morning. We’re still sorting through them, and we will comment in some detail on the ones that are applicable to this blog, but I wanted to at least note them quickly in case any is of immediate interest to any of our readers. I would also note that, after a cursory review, none seems to have anything to do with the law as it pertains to arbitration, although a few certainly do merit furthe

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[ed. note: please welcome Glen Wilkerson’s first commentary on our blog] It is difficult to recall a time where there is so much transition in Texas law with respect to “insurance matters”. The reason is that the Texas Supreme Court has now pending (awaiting rulings in the next 2 to 3 months) at least four cases which could dramatically change the landscape of Texas law and our practice. The purpose of this email is to provide a

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The Texas Supreme Court issued one opinion this morning, explaining Texas law as it applies to inverse condemnation claims based on a state action that allegedly impairs a property owner’s access to his or her property. In this case, the Supreme Court held that since the property owner was entitled to an easement from the state to allow access to a public roadway, no impairment of access had occurred which would have given rise to a condemn

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In 1993, an Argentine company, Bridas, entered in to a joint venture with the government of Turkmenistan, which was recently liberated from the Soviet Union. The venture went south when the government of Turkmenistan demanded a higher royalty percentage than provided by the Joint Venture Agreement. When Bridas refused to capitulate, Turkmenistan simply banned Bridas from the country. A joint venture with a government of an unstable and new countr

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On Friday, the Third Court of Appeals issued an opinion in an accelerated appeal of a trial court’s denial of a special appearance, finding that the appellants in question did not have, in their individual capacities, sufficient contacts with the State of Texas to be subject to a Travis County District Court’s personal jurisdiction. The case involved a California corporation’s breach of a commercial lease of some Austin office s

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This past Friday, the Third Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a post-divorce fraud case which sets forth a nice statement of the law on collateral attacks in Texas. In 1993, a Timothy Chambers and his father created a Texas partnership to develop a piece of real estate. They hired attorneys to draft the paperwork, which established that Mr. Chambers’ interest was to be his separate property, a gift from his parents. In 1997, Mr. Chamber

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This morning, the Third Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a fascinating case, from a procedural perspective. Jeffrey Kendziorski obtained a judgment for fraud from a Comal County justice court against a Robert Marshall. The $2,760.50 judgment was for compensatory damages and court costs, but not for exemplary damages. Mr. Marshall appealed the judgment de novo to the Comal County Court at Law and posted a $5,521.00 surety bond (Rule 571 requi

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This morning, the Third Court of Appeals issued an opinion clearly setting forth the extent to which a division of the state waives sovereign immunity when it sues a private party. In this case, the State of Texas sued a traffic light manufacturer for breach of contract, breach of warranty and quantum meruit. The traffic light company counterclaimed for business disparagement, and the State filed a plea to the jurisdiction with respect to the cou

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This morning, in addition to the arbitration case we’ve already discussed, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in a judicial disqualification case, to which Justice Hecht dissented. As the court succinctly summarizes its holding: the question presented here is whether an appellate judge is disqualified because, unbeknownst to her, before she took the bench another attorney at her very large firm played a very small role in the early s

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This morning, the Texas Supreme Court issued another mandamus opinion compelling arbitration in the face of a trial court and court of appeals refusal to do so. This time the case involves a claim for tortious interference of contract. James Cashion was an insurance salesman; he signed an agency contract with a health insurance carrier that contained an arbitration clause. The carrier cut Cashion’s commissions and eventually terminated his

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