State Waived Attack on Attorneys' Fees by Failing to Raise It in Supreme Court
In another chapter of the most recent school-finance case, Neeley v. West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District, the Third Court of Appeals has rejected the State's challenge to the district court's $4 million attorneys' fee award. The court of appeals held that the State waived its argument that certain constitutional provisions precluded the districts from recovering such fees by failing to raise the argument in its direct appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. Applying the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act, the court further held that that the award was "equitable and just."
