The Texas Supreme Court did not release any opinions with today’s order list.

The Court did grant the State’s motion to particpate in the upcoming oral argument in City of Dallas v. VSC, LLC, No. 08-0265 (more info), a case about when the exercise of the state’s police power could violate the takings clause. [...]

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Spanking

“Justice of peace has immunity over spankings” from today’s Houston Chronicle.

State District Judge Abel Limas issued the ruling after a one-hour hearing involving Los Fresnos families complaining of spankings in Justice of the Peace Gustavo “Gus” Garza’s courtroom. Limas said they cannot recover damages in a civil suit filed against Garza. [...]

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The Texas Supreme Court issued six decisions with today’s order list. 

Medical-malpractice sanctions

Three of today’s six decisions involved the question whether a defendant in a medical-malpractice suit can immediately appeal the trial court’s refusal to award sanctions when the plaintiffs nonsuit a case. The Court ultimately held that, yes, such an order was subject to [...]

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The Texas AG’s office has formally announced the hiring a new Solicitor General — Jim Ho. Actually, for now Texas has two-and-a-half SGs. The former SG (my old boss Ted Cruz) is still working in the office for the time being. 1 And, as the press release emphasizes, the Deputy SG (Sean Jordan) [...]

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Although there were no decisions handed down in today’s order list, the Court did make some changes to its upcoming oral argument calendar. The Court filled out its April 2 argument calendar and assigned two cases (so far) to its April 22, 2008 calendar, when the Court will be sitting at Texas Tech University [...]

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Analysis of Fairfield: Does It “Raise More Questions Than It Answers”?

Todd Smith of the Texas Appellate Law Blog has a thoughtful post today about last week’s Texas Supreme Court decision in Fairfield Insurance Co. v. Stephens Martin Paving — the case in which the Court answered the Fifth Circuit’s certified question about whether certain insurance [...]

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