The results are in.¹

Supreme Court

Justice Don Willett and John Devine (who beat the incumbent, Justice Medina, in the primary) were both running without a Democratic opponent. Justice Willett won with 78.8% and Devine won with 75% of the vote.

The seat contested by both major parties was between Justice Hecht and Michele Petty. Justice Hecht won 53.7% of the vote to Petty’s 41.9%, with the remaining 4% going to third-party candidates.

The Court remains at eight Justices because of Justice Wainwright’s departure. Now that these elections are settled, we may see the Governor choose a new appointment to the Court from the pool of justices in the courts of appeals (creating, in turn, an appointment possibility on that appellate court).

With that in mind:

Courts of Appeals

The outcomes in these races varied greatly depending on the geography of each district — and much less candidate to candidate. In most districts, that resulted in a one-party sweep. In one, it resulted in some very close contests.

Austin Court

In my local Austin Court, the Republicans swept with winning vote totals in a fairly consistent range between 51.7% and 53.8%.

The incumbents Justice Puryear, Justice Pemberton, and Justice Rose won reelection. The Democratic incumbent up for reelection, Justice Diane Henson, lost to Scott Field by 51.7% to 48.3%.

San Antonio Court

If you’re looking for courts divided along party lines, then “The San Antonio Court is the new Austin Court.”

Five of the Court’s seven seats were up in this election cycle, with each previously held by a Republican. The outcomes were split 3-2 in favor of Democratic candidates.

The closest race was divided by about 1%, with incumbent Republican Justice Marialyn Barnard defeating Baldemar Garza (50.5% – 49.5%).

Republican incumbent justices Rebecca Simmons, Steve Hilbig, and Phylis Speedlin each lost reelection. (The Democratic candidates winning those seats were Patricia Alvarez, Luz Elena Chapa, and Rebecca Martinez.)

A fifth Republican incumbent, Karen Angelini, won reelection with 51.8% of the vote.

Houston (1st and 14th Courts)

For the First Court, there were five seats up for election, all held by Republicans. Each won reelection — with vote totals falling in the range 53.3% to 53.8%.

For the (geographically identical) Fourteenth Court, there were four seats up for election, with three held by Republican incumbents and one open seat. The Republicans won each seat, in a slightly wider range of votes (52.3% to 54.3%).

The winners were Justice Jane Bland (1st), Justice Harvey Brown (1st), Justice Rebeca Huddle (1st), Justice Terry Jennings (1st), Justice Michael Massengale (1st), Justice Jeff Brown (14th), Justice Brett Busby (14th), Justice Martha Hill Jamison (14th), and John Donovan (14th – open seat).

Dallas

The five seats up for election in the Dallas Court all went to Republicans, with the winning vote totals in this region falling in a very tight range between 52.3% to 53.1%.

Three Republican incumbents won reelection: Justice Jim Moseley, Justice Douglas Lang, and Justice Bob Fillmore.

Winning election for the first time to the court were David Lewis and David Evans.

Corpus Christi-Edinburg

In this appellate district, three seats were up for election. The Democratic candidates won with vote totals ranging from 57.6% to 59.6%.

Nora Longoria defeated Tom Greenwell (59.6%-40.4%) for the one open seat (which had been held by Justice Rose Vela). Justice Nelda Rodriguez and Justice Gina Benavides won reelection.

Other Courts

On the Texarkana Court, Republican incumbent Bailey Moseley won reelection with 72% of the vote.

On the El Paso Court, the Democratic candidate Yvonne Rodriguez defeated the incumbent Republican Chris Antcliff with 62% of the vote. (Antcliff had been appointed to this court in October 2011.)

1. I get my results from the Secretary of State’s website. [↩]

I haven’t written much about this year’s elections for the Texas Supreme Court. In 2010, there was an open seat, and it seemed like there was quite a bit of media activity.

But there is now some actual news coverage to pass along. The Statesman‘s online edition reports on a lawsuit filed by Michele Petty — the presumed Democratic nominee — against Justice Hecht, arguing that he should be ineligible for both the 2012 Republican primary ballot and the 2012 general-election ballot. The suit seeks injunctive relief.

The reason? Each candidate for statewide judicial office is required to have a certain number of signatures from each of the state’s fourteen appellate districts. The petition argues that some of the petitions in Fort Worth were defective, dropping Justice Hecht below the required total.

You can read more:

Early voting started before this lawsuit was filed, so I think it particularly unlikely that a district court will enjoin the ongoing Republican primary, just to investigate (as the petition asks). The petition does, however, also challenge the November general-election ballot. That claim may play out over a longer timeframe.

Source: “Hecht opponent sues to halt ballot printing”

New Fifth Circuit blog

David Coale, former head of the State Bar appellate section, has started a new blog about the Fifth Circuit. It’s called 600 Camp, after the address of the John Minor Wisdom Courthouse in New Orleans.

Mandatory appellate mediation turns out to be mandatory

Disputing has a post about what happens when a party walks out before a court-ordered appellate mediation has run its course. The title gives away the ending: “Texas Court of Appeals Dismisses Appeal Because Appellant Walked Out of the Court-Ordered Mediation”

This happened in the Waco Court of Appeals. The court’s notice specified that dismissal would follow if the appellant did not attend the mediation. The court’s opinion is here.

Election season is underway

Morgan Smith of the Texas Tribune has the first piece I’ve seen about the 2012 court elections. Her story is about former Justice Steve Smith’s filing to, once again, run against Justice Willett for the Republican nomination.

Oral Arguments This Week

You can check out past and current arguments on the St. Mary’s video archives page.

Tuesday

• SafeShred, Inc. v. Louis Martinez, III, No. 10-0426. Are there exemplary damages for a Sabine Pilot claim (wrongful firing for an employee refusing to do an illegal act) and, if so, was the amount of exemplary damages awarded here excessive? (>> earlier post)

• Shell Oil Company, et al. v. Ralph Ross, No. 10-0429. Broadly, the case is about how the statute of limitations applies to royalty claims when there is an allegation of fraudulent concealment.

• Weeks Marine, Inc. v. Maximino Garza, No. 10-0435. A Jones Act (maritime) case about how to divide responsibility between the worker and the employer. >> earlier post

Wednesday

• Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America v. William Justiss, et al., No. 10-0451. In a nuisance claim about a reduction in property value alleged to have been caused by the gas pipeline: (1) how much worse must the condition get to re-start the statute of limitations and (2) what evidence is proper to show the reduction in property value? A potentially much broader issue here is the petitioner’s request for the Court to limit the “property owner rule” that (traditionally) lets an owner testify as to its value without the need to hire an expert witness.

• Hearts Bluff Game Ranch, Inc. v. The State Of Texas and the Texas Water Development Board, No. 10-0491. Can the State’s actions, which were alleged to have directly interfered with the issuance of a federal permit, constitute a taking under state law? >> earlier Texas Tribune article

• Matthew W. Wasserman, M.D. v. Christina Bergeron Gugel, No. 10-0513. Do “health care liability claims” include allegations of assault or sexual assault by health-care providers? >> earlier post

Thursday

• Port Elevator-Brownsville, LLC V. Rogelio Casados, et al., No. 10-0523. Does the bar against lawsuits created by the workers compensation law apply equally to suits by temporary workers?

• In re United Scaffolding, Inc., No. 10-0526. How much specificity is needed in an order granting a new trial based on the great weight of the evidence?

• Rusk State Hospital v. Dennis Black, et al., No. 10-0548. What should courts do when a government agency raises sovereign immunity during a limited interlocutory appeal challenging something completely different?

In March 2010, Rick Green surprised many by finishing first in a six-way race for the Republican nomination for an open Texas Supreme Court seat, forcing a runoff with Debra Lehrmann. In April 2010, Lehrmann won the runoff and serves on the Court today.

Last week, roughly a year after the April 2010 runoff, Rick Green filed a libel suit against several political detractors (including former Chief Justice Phillips and the Texas Association of Realtors), as well as the Texas Tribune and one of its reporters.

The original petition, filed in Hays County, contends that:

A damaged reputation and impressions and opinions of distrust, dishonesty and a lack of ethics and integrity has likely resulted in voters not voting for Green and in many people across Texas and the nation not wanting to have anything to do with Green.

Hat tip: Tex Parte Blog (Texas Lawyer)

The three sitting members of the Texas Supreme Court facing re-election in 2010 all won handily. With 99.98% of precincts reporting:

Place 3

Place 5

Place 9

These outcomes fairly closely track the performance of other statewide Republican candidates in contested races, in which Republican incumbents received around 60% of the vote.¹

Other Appellate Elections

The two most interesting contests of the night were in the Thirteenth Court and the Third Court. (In each of the other contested races for the court of appeals, the Republican incumbent won with at least 56% of the vote.)

Thirteenth Court: Perkes defeats Yañez

The only incumbent to lose was Linda Yañez of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals (in Corpus Christi/Edinburg), who had first been appointed to the Court in 1993. She lost to Greg Perkes, an appellate lawyer from Corpus Christi.

The Yañez/Perkes race was the closest appellate contest of the night. With 100% of the precincts reporting:

Third Court: Goodwin wins the open seat

The race for the open seat on the Third Court received a great deal of attention locally in Austin. In part, that was because Democratic nominee Kurt Kuhn had drawn a wide range of Republican supporters, including several former Justices of the Texas Supreme Court.

But in the voting booth, the night’s pattern of a Republican sweep continued. With 100% of precincts reporting:

1. The exception was Governor Perry, of course, who obtained roughly 55% of the vote in a significantly more contested race. [↩]

Today is election day for three members of the Texas Supreme Court, and the early returns (with 23% of the vote counted at 9:15 p.m.) show them each coasting toward re-election.

For place 3, Debra Lehrmann (61.77%) leads Jim Sharp (35.63%). For place 5, Paul Green (61.92%) leads Bill Moody (35.35%). And for place 9, Eva Guzman (62.04%) leads Blake Bailey (34.15%).

Those numbers are fairly similar to the current statewide totals for other Republican incumbents, with the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and other incumbents with contested races (other than the Governor) with totals in the 61% to 65% range. The governor’s race is only slightly tighter, with Rick Perry over 57%.

(I’m posting a few other election-related thoughts on the blog’s twitter feed as things unfold. I’ll also have a wrap-up post tomorrow.)

Early voting starts today in Texas for all races on the November ballot, including the three seats up for election on the Texas Supreme Court.

So far, the fall campaigns — at least for the Texas Supreme Court — have generated less media interest than did the primary contests. I’ve tried to keep up with the most recent stories on the blog’s “Elections 2010″ page, but I have probably missed some coverage. (If you see something that I should add, feel free to send me an email.)

The Texas Tribune has published an interview with soon-to-be-Justice Debra Lehrmann. Judge Lehrmann will join the Court on June 21, 2010 to serve the remainder of Justice O’Neill’s current term, standing for reelection this November.

The Tribune’s interview format is a nice hybrid between a traditional article and a transcript. It condenses and distills some key points, but also embeds short audio clips that give more context for her answers.

Today, Governor Perry announced the appointment of district judge Debra Lehrmann to be a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, effective June 21, 2010.

Judge Lehrmann will be assuming Place 3, the seat of Justice O”Neill, who a few weeks ago formally notified the Governor that she would be stepping down on June 20, 2010.

Place 3 is up for election this fall, and Justice Lehrmann is already the Republican nominee for that seat. On the fall ballot, she is opposed by Justice Jim Sharp (D) and William Strange (L).

More links about the election, including a short Q&A with soon-to-be Justice Lehrmann, are collected on our Elections 2010 page.

The turnout for the runoff in the 2010 Texas Republican primary was 2.55% of registered Texas voters. So it’s no surprise that the Secretary of State was able to count 100% of the ballots before the midnight hour.

The results:

The news was easy to follow on Twitter, with the AP calling the race, with Debra Lehrmann making a statement, and with Rick Green making his own.

The Texas Tribune has a map showing the runoff election results by county. Get it while it’s hot.

Tomorrow is the primary runoff day in Texas, and the only statewide race on either party’s ballot is the contest between former Representative Rick Green of Dripping Springs and Judge Debra Lehrmann of Fort Worth for the Republican nomination for Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court.

Turnout is not expected to be heavy; some pundits suggest that the statewide race may be decided by those areas of the state that happen to also have other runoff races, such as for state representative, that might drive more voters to the polls.

I have updated the “2010 Elections” page with a few more articles about the runoff. Once the returns start coming in tomorrow, I will be talking about them on the blog’s twitter feed and (eventually) in a wrap-up blog post here.

There were two contested primary elections for the Texas Supreme Court. The results are:

Place 3

In a remarkably close six-way election, Rick Green and Debra Lehrmann appear set for an April 13th runoff for the Republican nomination to Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court.

With 99.98% (all but two) of Texas’s precincts reporting:¹

The top two vote getters make the runoff. Rick Green finished first with 18.96%.²

The margin between 2nd (Debra Lehrmann) and 3rd (Jim Moseley) to qualify for the runoff appears to be just about 1,000 votes out of more than 1.1 million votes cast in this primary. The margin between 3rd (Jim Moseley) and 4th (Rebecca Simmons) is roughly the same.

That’s a very thin margin, and these results might still change as provisional ballots or other votes are counted.

The winner of the April 13th runoff will face Jim Sharp (D) and William Strange (L) on the November ballot.

Place 9

As noted last night, Justice Eva Guzman has staved off a primary challenge from Rose Vela.

Justice Guzman will face Blake Bailey (D) and Jack Armstrong (L) on the November ballot.

1. Updated to reflect numbers accurate as of 12:48 p.m. on March 3. As votes continue to trickle in, the numbers have closed slightly, with Lehrmann down from 18.22% to 18.20% and Moseley up from 18.12% to 18.13%. [↩]
2. This was a six-way race, so everyone expected a runoff, but the evenness of this race was pretty remarkable. I am going to study those numbers a little more, once they are finalized. [↩]