Don Cruse

The Court issued five merits decisions with today’s order list.

  • Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., L.P. v. Mitchell, No. 05-0171. This judgment had a 5-3 split, with Justice Hecht writing the majority opinion and the Chief Justice writing the dissenting opinion. (Justice Green did not sit.)

  • Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Amalgamated Transit Union Local No. 1338, No. 06-0034. Justice Hecht wrote for a unanimous court.

  • United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Goudeau, No. 06-0987. This is a 6-3 decision, with Justice Brister writing the majority opinion and Justice Green writing the dissenting opinion.

  • In re Rolando Caballero, No. 07-0484. The Court ultimately affirmed the judgment of disbarment in this attorney-discipline appeal, but the Justices were divided. Seven Justices signed onto this majority opinion by Justice Green. Justice Willett, joined by Justice Medina, dissented.

  • Gardner v. U.S. Imaging, Inc., No. 08-0268 (per curiam)

Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. Mitchell looks like a very significant case about the role of the Texas Supreme Court in relation to the Texas Legislature. I’ll write a little more about that in a separate post.

Grants

The Court also granted the petition for review in Hagen v. Hagen, No. 07-1065 (DB), from Bexar County. That case is now set for oral argument on January 14, 2009. 1

CVSG, Texas Style

And the Court added a new category heading in this order list — “Solicitor General Invited To File Brief.” More on that a little later today.

  1. The counsel here got hit with a doubly whammy. The Court not only gave just about the minimum amount of time to prepare for oral argument, but that period spans the holidays. ↩