MEMORANDUM OPINION PER CURIAM. Reddy Partnership/5900 North Freeway LP and Reddy Partnership et al. as the Property Owners, jointly referred to as appellants, appeal from the trial court's order granting the plea to the jurisdiction filed by Harris County Appraisal District ("HCAD"). We affirm. I. Factual and Procedural Background The property at issue is located at 5900 North Freeway, Houston, Texas. On June 21, 2002, Reddy Partnership, a Texas general partnership, (the First Partnership)...
OPINION ON REHEARING JAMES T. WORTHEN, Chief Justice. Basic Energy Services, Inc. filed a motion for rehearing, which is overruled. The Oleta Ashworth Foster Trust and the co-trustees of that trust, Robert Radloff and Margaret Radloff also filed a motion for rehearing, which is overruled. The court's opinion of June 30, 2011, is withdrawn and the following opinion is substituted in its place. Basic Energy Services, Inc. appeals the trial court's judgment and award of damages in favor of...
OPINION Opinion by Justice MOSELEY. Tricha Ann McLendon was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to two years' confinement. McLendon, an indigent defendant, filed a motion for reasonable bail pending appeal requesting to either "be permitted to remain at large on the existing bail" or "be admitted to reasonable bail, in the amount of no more than $2,500, until conviction becomes final." The trial court set bond in the amount of $50,000.00 and ordered weekly drug...
OPINION Opinion By Justice LANG. Appellant Ultrasound Technical Services, Inc. (UTSI), a for-profit school, appeals from the denial of its application for a tax exemption filed pursuant to 11.21 of the Texas Tax Code. TEX. TAX CODE ANN. 11.21(d)(3), (5) (West Supp. 2011). Section 11.21 provides for a tax exemption only for non-profit schools, and appellee Dallas Central Appraisal District (the District) denied the application because UTSI is not a non-profit school. As its sole point on...
OPINION Opinion By Justice FILLMORE. Patton Boggs LLP filed (1) a petition for writ of mandamus contesting the trial court's order granting Kate Moseley's petition for rule of civil procedure 202 (rule 202) depositions and (2) an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's denial of Patton Boggs LLP's motion to compel arbitration. By order of August 31, 2011, this Court consolidated the original proceeding (number 05-11-01163-CV, styled In re Patton Boggs LLP ), with this appeal, treating the...
OPINION ON REHEARING ** MICHAEL MASSENGALE, Justice. Gary Pitts and Pitts & Collard, LLP sued Arthur L. Schechter, Arthur L. Schechter, P.C. d/b/a Schechter & Associates, Schechter & Marshall, L.L.P., and Schechter, McElwee & Shaffer, L.L.P. for breach of contract. The contract claim was based upon an allegation that the Schechter parties failed to pay referral fees from nearly a thousand lawsuits that Pitts referred by way of nine letter agreements. 1 Pitts also sued the Schechter parties...
OPINION Opinion By Justice FRANCIS. In this insurance coverage dispute, Vines-Herrin Custom Homes, LLC, Herrin Custom Homes, and Emil G. Cerullo appeal the trial court's take-nothing judgment in favor of Great American Lloyds Insurance Company and Mid-Continent Casualty Company. In two issues, appellants argue the trial court erred as a matter of law by requiring them to allege and then to prove, through expert testimony, the exact dates physical damage occurred to Cerullo's property in order...
OPINION PER CURIAM. On December 12, 2011, relator, Alere Women's & Children's Health, LLC, filed a petition for writ of mandamus in this court. See Tex. Gov't Code 22.221; see also Tex.R.App. P. 52. Relator complains that respondent, the Honorable R.K. Sandill, presiding judge of the 127th District Court of Harris County, abused his discretion in striking eight of its expert witnesses. Relator also filed a motion for a temporary stay of all proceedings until a final decision on its...
OPINION TERRY JENNINGS, Justice. Relator, Cypress Texas Lloyds ("CTL"), has filed a petition for writ of mandamus, challenging the trial court's order denying its motion to abate the underlying case 1 pursuant to an appraisal clause in a homeowner's insurance policy that it issued to real parties in interest, Mahendra and Daksha Parikh. In its sole issue, CTL contends that the trial court abused its discretion in "failing to abate the case after compelling appraisal pursuant to a mandatory,...
OPINION ON REHEARING JANE BLAND, Justice. A little more than fifty years ago, the Porretto family began acquiring tracts of beachfront property on Galveston Island, gulfward of the seawall. The family eventually came to own property along the shoreline between 6th and 27th Streets. They turned the property between 6th and 10th Streets into Porretto Beach and provided paid parking and concessions for beachgoers. They did not develop the tracts between 10th and 27th Streets, known as Porretto...
OPINION Opinion By Justice LANG-MIERS. Appellant Orix Capital Markets, LLC filed this action seeking to vacate the amended judgment in a prior lawsuit between it and appellee American Realty Trust, Inc. The core issue is whether the amended judgment is void because the trial judge allegedly did not meet the constitutional requirements to hold the office of district court judge when he was elected. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the trial court granted American...
OPINION Opinion By Justice LANG-MIERS. Blanca Camero sued Liberty Insurance Corporation for wrongful handling of her workers' compensation claim. A jury found that Liberty breached its common law duty of good faith and fair dealing, but did not do so knowingly, and that Liberty engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the Texas Insurance Code, but did not do so with malice or in an unconscionable manner. The jury awarded damages to Camero for past loss of earning capacity, past...
OPINION Opinion By Justice FITZGERALD. Appellees Thomas and Phorsha Colombrito sued appellants, Doctors Sireesha Janga and Richard Torres, alleging negligence in their treatment of Thomas. A jury found appellants were negligent in their treatment and awarded appellees more than $22 million. After applying settlement credits and statutory caps, the trial court's January 4, 2010 final judgment awarded the Colombritos $504,291.94 from Torres and $10,125,725, jointly and severally, from Janga. In...
OPINION Opinion By Chief Justice WRIGHT. Before this Court is appellant's motion to review the trial court's order denying its request to post a supersedeas bond and allowing appellee, Hydroscience, Inc., to post a supersedeas bond. Appellee initiated in the trial court an original petition for writ of mandamus to compel examination of appellant's books and records. Appellee also sought a declaratory judgment that it owned stock in appellant. On November 7, 2011, the trial court entered...
OPINION Opinion By Justice FILLMORE. This is an accelerated interlocutory appeal of the trial court's order granting a temporary injunction. In a single issue, appellant El Tacaso, Inc. (El Tacaso) contends the trial court abused its discretion in granting the temporary injunction because appellees Jireh Star, Inc. (Jireh Star) and Aaron Kim (Kim) did not prove an imminent threat of irreparable harm, the temporary injunction altered the status quo of the subject matter of the suit, the trial...
OPINION DAVID PURYEAR, Justice. We grant the Travis County District Attorney's motion for rehearing, withdraw our previous opinion and judgment dated August 6, 2010, and substitute the following en banc opinion and judgment in their place. See Tex.R.App. P. 41.2 (allowing appellate courts to decide to consider case en banc). The Travis County District Attorney appeals from the trial court's order granting M.M.'s petition for expunction of two charges arising from an arrest in 2004. In the...
OPINION CHRISTOPHER ANTCLIFF, Justice. Appellants, interveners in the underlying receivership proceeding, sued Appellees for various claims, including civil conspiracy. After the conspiracy allegations were severed from the remainder of the cause, the trial court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the receiver and associated entities, and dismissed Appellants' claims against the creditor for want of prosecution. Appellants raise two issues challenging these orders. Finding no...
OPINION Opinion by: MARIALYN BARNARD, Justice. On September 14, 2011, relator Evolution Petroleum Company filed a petition for writ of mandamus, complaining the trial court abused its discretion in failing to transfer venue under the mandatory venue provision of section 15.011 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. 15.011 (West 2002). We agree and conditionally grant the petition for writ of mandamus. BACKGROUND Real parties in interest...
MEMORANDUM OPINION 1 LEE GABRIEL, Justice. Introduction Shortly after moving out of the house he had lived in with Alma Garcia, Appellant Abel Noe Dominguez returned and stabbed her to death while she slept between their two young sons. Appellant now appeals his conviction for capital murder. We affirm. Factual and Procedural Background Alma was the mother of four: two girls and two boys. J.J., a daughter from an earlier relationship, was eighteen; the other daughter, N.D., was fifteen....
OPINION SHERRY RADACK, Chief Justice. This case involves a dispute over a credit disability insurance policy underwritten by defendant/appellee Enterprise Life Insurance Company that plaintiff/appellant Bernice Hudspeth purchased when she bought a new car from defendant Sterling McCall Chevrolet-Toyota, Inc. The vehicle and insurance were financed through defendant Toyota Motor Credit Corporation. We reverse and remand in part and affirm in part. BACKGROUND On July 5, 2003, Hudspeth...
