Membership on the Supreme Court of Texas has stabilized since mid-2005.
Wow. The High Nine in Austin opened the decisional floodgates today. Lookie here for the August 29 Weekly Orders.
Three of the 22 opinions involved Blawgletter’s law firm. Our dear clients prevailed in all three:
- In re Poly-Am., L.P., No. 04-1049 — Unconscionable limit on statutory remedies, where severable from remainder of arbitration clause, doesn’t prevent order compelling arbitration; arbitrator should rule on enforceability of fee-splitting, discovery-restricting, and other provisions.
- Forest Oil Corp. v. McAllen, No. 06-0178 — Disclaimer in settlement agreement of reliance “upon any statement or any representation of any agent of the parties” defeated challenge to arbitration clause.
- Zurich Am. Ins. Co. v. Nokia, Inc., No. 06-1030 — Commercial general liability policy covering claims for "bodily injury" required insurers to defend Nokia against lawsuits alleging brain damage from exposure to signals emanating from cellular telephone handsets.
Other noteworthy features of the end-of-August deluge include:
- Two of the cases pended in the court since 2004, four since 2005, and five since 2006.
- The decision in the oldest case, Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas, Inc. v. Hogue, No. 04-5075 (Tex. Aug. 29, 2008), comes three years and four months after the court heard oral argument (on April 12, 2005).
- In another oldish case, involving loss of natural gas through drainage, the court discusses the elements of trespass quare clausum fregit, the law of capture, and error in admitting an irrelevant memo that referred to the plaintiffs’ ancestors as "mostly illiterate Mexicans". Coastal Oil & Gas Corp. v. Garza Energy Trust, No. 05-0466 (Tex. Aug. 29, 2008).
