2024

The following are summaries of selected civil opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals during February 2024. The summaries are overviews; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of March 11, 2024. ATTORNEY’S FEES: Court reverses order denying attorney’s fees.  Abira Med. Laboratories, LLV v. OMH-Healthedge Holdings, Inc., No. 03-22-00176-CV (Tex. App.—Austin Feb. 13, 2024, no

The following are summaries of selected criminal opinions issued by the Third Court of Appeals from August 2023. The summaries are overviews; please review the entire opinions. Subsequent histories are current as of March 1, 2024. DEFENSIVE INSTRUCTIONS – CONSENT: Trial court did not err in failing to include additional factual detail in defensive instructions.  Poncio v. State, No. 03-22-00292-CR

Are you a little “lavender hazed” on the ethical rules around discovery, attorney-client privilege, or handling high-profile cases?  “Shake it off” and join us on April 19 at 9 a.m. for a free half-day virtual CLE, including three hours of ethics, hosted by the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court and the Austin Bar. Register here. The Preamble to

At the National Conference of Bar Presidents (NCBP) Awards luncheon on  Feb. 2, 2024, former Austin Bar and State Bar of Texas president Richard Pena was presented with the prestigious 2024 NCBP Fellows Award. Pena is the first Austin Bar president and only the second bar president from Texas to receive this prestigious award. After receiving the award, Pena addressed

During the 88th Texas Legislature, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice received $85 million to install air conditioning in its units. Currently, 31 of TDCJ’s units are fully air-conditioned and 55 are partially air-conditioned for a total of 43,572 ‘cool beds,’ according to TDCJ statistics. Since 2018, 6,948 cool beds have been built, while another 3,437 are currently under construction.

You may know Pete Reid as chair of the Austin Bar’s Business, Corporate and Tax Law Section. You may also know him from his award-winning commercials.  But you may not know his alter ego: Allaster McKallaster, angry Scottish soccer commentator, who has racked up more than 60 million views on Instagram and TikTok. McKallaster has several famous followers, including Ryan

Austin Bar member Hon. Rudy Metayer received Leadership Austin’s  2024 Outstanding Alumni Award at the organization’s Community Engagement Awards event on Feb. 23, 2024. Every year, Leadership Austin, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides leadership training, recognizes exceptional individuals who lead with a commitment to improving the community. The Outstanding Alumni Award is given in honor of Polly Scallorn, who was

The Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) recently released a report, “Solitary Confinement in Texas: A Crisis with No End,”1 in which the nonprofit calls for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to open an investigation into solitary confinement practices in Texas. An investigation is called for, the report reads, due to alleged violations of the federal Civil Rights of Institutionalized

The opinions expressed in The Serious and The Salty are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Austin Bar Association membership or the Austin Bar Association board of directors. The Serious Have you heard of The Caselaw Access Project? I had not. The Caselaw Access Project (CAP) was founded at Harvard in 2015. On

Since the beginning of Western civilization, wills have been the primary tool for individuals to disperse their assets to loved ones at their death. Even the Bible includes several references to wills.  Now, seemingly all of a sudden, trusts, particularly revocable living trusts, rather than wills, are the preferred method of many estate planning lawyers. Why? Two reasons stand out: