Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of August 10, 2015.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

City of Arlington v. Kovacs, No. 02-14-00281-CV (Aug. 13, 2015) (Meier, J., joined by Gardner and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held: The arbitrator exceeded his authority as specified by the City's personnel manual by improperly considering post-termination evidence in determining whether Kovacs violated the City's personnel rules as charged.

Schatz v. State, Nos. 02-15-00235-CR, 02-15-00236-CR, 02-15-00237-CR, 02-15-00238-CR, 02-15-00239-CR, 02-15-00240-CR, 02-15-00241-CR (Aug. 13, 2015) (Gabriel, J., joined by Livingston, C.J., and Sudderth, J.).

Held: Under the government code, a court of appeals has jurisdiction over a further appeal from a county court review of a municipal court's judgment when the issue does not concern the constitutionality of a statute or ordinance only when (1) the fine assessed is greater than $100 and (2) the county court affirms the municipal court's judgment.  Because the county court dismissed these appeals (as opposed to affirming them), we lack jurisdiction over these appeals.