It will be a white Christmas whenever this flurry of briefs gets filed.

The Court requested full briefing in at least sixteen cases at its conference yesterday. ((That the Court made these requests on one of the conference days shown on its public calendar suggests I should amend my prior post about the Court’s recent tendency to make these decisions outside of the scheduled conferences.))

A list of those cases follows the break. Details about the more noteworthy cases will follow in future postings.

Although the request for briefing on the merits does not signal that the Court will ultimately grant these pending petitions, it is an important step in that direction. The first round of the Petitioners’ merits briefs should be due in mid-January and the Respondents’ merits briefs in mid-February, barring extensions. After the Court’s clerks have had time to study these briefs and have prepared a study memo to the Court, the Texas Supreme Court will likely decide whether to grant, deny, or hold these cases sometime later in the spring. ((Some of these cases may end up on the Texas Supreme Court’s substantial “submarine docket” of petitions destined to be per curiam reversals issued without oral argument.))

As the briefing on the merits stage gets underway, only two of these cases have yet drawn the attention of amicus filers. Those two cases are noted below.

  • Spir Star AG v. Kimich (No. 07-0340) [Docket Sheet], from Houston (1st COA)
  • Mosqueda v. G&H Diversified Mfg., L.P. (No. 07-0342) [Docket Sheet] , from Houston (14th COA)
  • Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Gill (No. 07-0404) [Docket Sheet] , from Corpus Christi (13th COA).

An amicus brief was filed in the above case by Shell Oil Company

  • State Farm Lloyds Ins. v. Richardson (No. 07-0445) [Docket Sheet], from Fort Worth (2nd COA)

An amicus brief was filed in the above case by the Complex Insurance Claims Litigation Association

  • Thomas v. Institutional Division of the Tex. Dep’t of Crim. Justice (No. 07-0457) [Docket Sheet], from Houston (1st COA)
  • Dvorak v. Wilson (No. 07-0468) [Docket Sheet], from San Antonio (4th COA)
  • STP Nuclear Operating Co. v. Combs (No. 07-0482) [Docket Sheet], from Austin (3rd COA)
  • Zenith Ins. Co. v. Lopez (No. 07-0503) [Docket Sheet] , from Eastland (11th COA)
  • Vanegas v. American Energy Servs. (No. 07-0520) [Docket Sheet], from Eastland (11th COA)
  • 529900 Ontario Ltd. v. Elk River, Inc. (No. 07-0527) [Docket Sheet], from Dallas (5th COA)
  • In re Americredit Fin. Servs., Inc. (No. 07-0583) [Docket Sheet], from Dallas (5th COA)
  • Young v. Villegas (No. 07-0605) [Docket Sheet], from Houston (14th COA)
  • In re Morgan Stanley & Co. (No. 07-0665) [Docket Sheet], from Dallas (5th COA)
  • In re BP Plaintiffs’ Steering Committe (No. 07-0674) [Docket Sheet], from Houston (1st COA)
  • Unifund CCR Partners v. Weaver (No. 07-0682) [Docket Sheet], from Waco Court (10th COA)
  • In re Kiberu (No. 07-0959) [Docket Sheet], from Fort Worth (2nd COA)