SLG's Brandy Wingate to Argue at Texas Supreme Court
After just over a year with my firm, Brandy Wingate has landed an oral argument at the Texas Supreme Court. The argument will take place at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow at the John B. Connally Center at the University of Texas School of Law here in Austin.
The case is Rio Grande Regional Hospital Inc. and Columbia Rio Grande Healthcare L.P. v. Diana Lopez Villarreal, et al. (No. 10-0927). The Court's staff attorney for public information has provided the following summary:
In this case alleging health care-liability claims resulting from a patient's suicide in a hospital, the principal issues are (1) whether the appeals court applied the wrong standard to review the jury's finding that the suicide was a foreseeable result of nurses' actions and omissions; (2) whether legally sufficient evidence established that the patient's suicide was foreseeable and nurses' actions and omissions constituted its cause in fact; and (3) whether the court of appeals erred by imposing on nurses a duty to diagnose a patient's psychiatric illness. Villarreal sued the hospital after her husband, admitted for severe headaches, fatigue and fainting spells, killed himself two days later by slashing his neck with a razor a nurse provided him for shaving. On his admission, he told doctors he was not depressed. Doctors prescribed an anti-anxiety drug and an antidepressant also used to treat anxiety. A jury found the hospital 75 percent negligent for the nurses' acts and omissions and Mrs. Villarreal 25 percent at fault for failing to disclose to disclose a suicide note her husband wrote and his complaints about his "deteriorating" mental state. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment based on the jury verdict, holding in part that proximate cause could be based on "general danger" or "some type of injury" reasonably foreseen by providing Mr. Villarreal the razor. The hospital argues that the standard should have been that the suicide was injury of a "general character" that the nurses should have reasonably anticipated.
Here are links to the parties' briefs and the Thirteenth Court of Appeals' opinion. The argument will be webcast live, courtesy of St. Mary's University School of Law.
SCOTX to Hold Hearing on Uniform E-Filing System
This afternoon at 2:00, the Texas Supreme Court will hold a public hearing to explore the feasibility of a statewide uniform system for electronic court filings. The hearing will take place in the Supreme Court Courtroom and will be webcast live here.
The Court is considering whether Texas ought to implement a system modeled to some degree after Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER), the federal courts’ electronic document portal. In conjunction with the Case Management-Electronic Case Filing (CM-ECF) feature, PACER allows litigants to file documents electronically at no charge, 24 hours a day. Parties and the public may access the docket online and may view and download listed documents for a fee.
Followers of this blog know that I have advocated e-filing for years and have watched closely as our state e-filing processes have developed. Texas has made great strides in this area, but the current system is far from perfect. PACER/CM-ECF has its flaws too, but it has been implemented successfully in federal trial and appellate courts and provides a reference point to something other than the state courts' filing-fee driven model.
A system that is not fee-based at the filing stage would level the playing field for everyone with access to a computer and an internet connection, and a uniform approach to e-filing and online document access would be inherently valuable. We should applaud the Supreme Court for considering the need for and benefits of a uniform system and for taking the initiative to gather more information about the options going forward.
SCOTX: Attorneys Must E-File Effective 9/12/11
Texas appellate e-filing continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Effective September 12, 2011, attorneys filing documents in the Texas Supreme Court must do so electronically. Pro se parties may e-file, or they may submit paper documents.
View the Court's latest e-filing order here. Don Cruse has broken down the new order over at the Supreme Court of Texas Blog.
Aside from SCOTX, e-filing is available in the following state appellate courts: Austin, Dallas, Eastland (new as of August 8), Houston (1st District), and Houston (14th District). The Texarkana court may be next in line, as its website states that e-filing will be available there soon.
For background on this development, see the following posts:
- When Will Appellate Courts Catch Up on E-Filing? (1/3/07)
- Appellate Court E-Filing Becoming a Reality (2/15/10)
- More on Appellate E-Filing (4/9/10)
- At Last, E-Filing Is Coming to Texas Appellate Courts (3/3/11)
- Texas Appellate E-Filing Goes Live (3/28/11)
- The Adaptable (Appellate) Lawyer (6/28/11)
Texas Appellate E-Filing Goes Live
Here is the text of an e-mail I received from SCOTX Clerk Blake Hawthorne this morning, along with links he included in the message:
Effective March 28, 2011, you may electronically file documents, pay your fees, and serve opposing counsel using the Texas.gov electronic filing system. To use the electronic filing system you must first choose an electronic filing service provider and register. Please remember to send two paper copies of your filing to the Court when you use the electronic filing system.
If you choose to file using the traditional paper filing method, you must still e-mail electronic copies of petitions, responses, replies, briefs on the merits, amicus briefs, post-submission briefs, motions for rehearing, and emergency motions to the Clerk of the Court on the same day that the paper copies are filed. The electronic copies must be e-mailed to scebriefs@txcourts.gov.
For more details, see the Electronic Copy and Electronic Filing Rules for the Supreme Court of Texas. For more information about creating electronic briefs, please read this Guide to Creating Better Electronic Briefs. You can also watch a video that shows step-by-step instructions for using Adobe Acrobat to create an electronic brief.
For background, see my three previous posts.
The First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals have gone live as well, with others to follow throughout the year.
I filed a reply in the Texas Supreme Court late last week and would like to have taken advantage of the new system. I expect to file another brief there fairly soon and will report on the experience afterward. If Tex.gov has fixed the bugs and the system works like trial-court e-filing does now, it should go smoothly.
5/9/11 Update: The Third Court of Appeals is accepting e-filing as of today. According to its website, e-filing is now the "preferred method for filing" in the Third Court.
E-Filing Launch Delayed
Texas.gov has pushed back the previously announced March 14, 2011 launch for Texas appellate e-filing, according to Texas Supreme Court Clerk Blake Hawthorne. In the process of addressing performance issues in Harris County, technical problems have arisen regarding electronic payments. A new roll-out date has yet to be announced.
At Last, E-Filing Is Coming to Texas Appellate Courts
Four years ago, I first asked when appellate courts would catch up on e-filing. Since then, the Fifth Circuit has successfully implemented an e-filing program, which has been mandatory for almost a year now. In state appellate courts, however, the process has been painfully slow.
The Texas Supreme Court took a giant step in the right direction this week by releasing amendments to the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure that expressly allow the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the intermediate courts of appeals to "permit[] or require[] [documents] to be filed, signed, or verified by electronic means . . . ." Amended TRAPs 9.2 and 9.3 are open to public comment through May 31, 2011 and, with any modifications, will take effect June 30, 2011.
The amending order promulgated templates for local rules governing electronic copies and electronic filings in the courts of appeals. These templates mirror e-copy and e-filing rules the Supreme Court adopted by separate order, which take effect March 14, 2011. The second order supersedes the Supreme Court's current e-copy practices, but retains features that have become familiar to those who routinely file documents with the Court.
The e-filing rules represent the most significant change. Through the Texas.gov portal familiar to many trial-court practitioners, parties will be able to submit PDF documents to the Supreme Court and other registered users for filing and service. This functionality was supposed to be wrapped up in the Texas Appeals Management and E-Filing System (TAMES) project, but the TAMES rollout dates have been pushed back repeatedly. Apparently unwilling to wait any longer, the Supreme Court has effectively separated e-filing from TAMES. With the local-rule templates, the Court has laid the groundwork for e-filing in other appellate courts as well.
Unlike the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Supreme Court's e-filing program is voluntary. Like the Fifth Circuit, paper copies are still required. The day is coming when submissions to appellate courts will be electronic only. It's just not here yet.
Related Posts:
Chief Justice to Deliver State of Judiciary Address
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson (pictured) will deliver his biennial State of the Judiciary address to a combined session of the Legislature on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 11:30 am. You can watch the address live through this link by choosing "Chamber Stream."
Expect the forthcoming budget to be one of the Chief's primary topics. With funding recommendations for the judiciary down 10 percent from 2010-2011, courts (and litigants) are facing tough times. In addition to the reality of staffing reductions, we are in danger of losing the momentum built toward true e-filing in our state appellate courts.
The media is usually quick to comment on these addresses, and the Supreme Court generally publishes the text on its website. I will update this post with that sort of information as it becomes available.
2/23/11 Update: The Chief called the Legislature to action in four areas: juvenile justice; legal services for the poor; wrongful criminal convictions; and judicial selection reform. Surprisingly, he mentioned the budget crisis only in passing. [But see 2/28/11 Update below.]
The text of the address is available here. Links to media coverage appear below.
- The Texas Tribune: Chief Justice Delivers State of the Judiciary
- Austin American-Statesman: Chief justice issues call to action at Capitol
- Austin American-Statesman (Editorial): Texas' system of electing judges is flagged again
2/28/11 Update (courtesy of Jerry Bullard): The House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee conducted public hearings on the judiciary’s budget and heard testimony from representatives of the courts and judicial branch agencies. Chief Justice Jefferson testified that, although a 5 percent budget reduction for the next biennium would have a negative impact on appellate court operations, virtually all of courts are willing to accept the cut and not ask that the 5 percent be restored. Instead, the courts wished to focus on ensuring that the Office of Court Administration (OCA) is adequately funded because, in the Chief Justice’s words, OCA is the “lifeblood of the judiciary, especially for the appellate courts” and provides the technological support for the appellate courts in terms of case management and the movement toward electronic filing. The Chief Justice also made a pitch for the Legislature to appropriate sufficient funding for basic civil legal services like it did in 2009 when it appropriated $20 million to offset losses caused by the decrease in IOLTA interest rates.
SCOTX Heading to the Valley
I am looking forward to attending the Hidalgo County Bar Association’s “An Evening with the Texas Supreme Court” event next Wednesday, March 2, at The Club at Cimarron in Mission, Texas. Through the efforts of HCBA President-Elect Brandy Wingate, Smith Law Group is among the firms helping to sponsor this event, which will include a cocktail reception and dinner program. All Texas Supreme Court justices and a number of county, state, court of appeals, and federal judges are expected to attend.
The next morning, the Supreme Court will hear two oral arguments at the University of Texas—Pan American in Edinburg. The arguments will be available for live or later viewing via the Court’s main webcast page. More information about the cases, including links to the parties’ briefs, is available here.
2/25/11 Update: UT—Pan Am is offering its own live feed of the arguments and is publicizing the event here.
