Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of June 20, 2016.

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.

Super Ventures, Inc. v. Chaudhry, No. 02-14-00157-CV (June 23, 2016) (Gardner, J., joined by Livingston, C.J., and Meier, J.).

Held: The trial court erred by finding and concluding that Abu Tuarb Tariq, the president of Super Ventures, Inc., breached and abandoned the lease amendment between Super Ventures and Saiqa S. Chaudhry because Tariq, acting in his individual capacity, did not enter into or breach the lease amendment. Nevertheless, Tariq was personally liable for Super Ventures’s breach and abandonment of the lease amendment under tax code section 171.255(a) because the lease amendment was executed during a period in which Super Ventures’s corporate privileges were forfeited, and the trial court therefore did not err by entering judgment against Super Ventures and Tariq, jointly and severally.

Eagle Gun Range, Inc. v. Bancalari, No. 02-16-00135-CV (June 22, 2016) (Gardner, J., joined by Gabriel and Sudderth, JJ.).

Held: The court lacks jurisdiction to consider a permissive interlocutory appeal under section 51.014(d) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code where the trial court’s order simply denies a motion to dismiss without specifying the substantive legal bases of its ruling. Although the trial court specified elsewhere in its order the legal issues it wanted this court to resolve, there was no showing that the trial court itself based its ruling on any of those issues. Section 51.014(d) is not a mechanism to present certified questions, and this court lacks jurisdiction to issue an advisory opinion.

Crawford v. State, No. 02-15-00287-CR (June 23, 2016) (Dauphinot, J., joined by Gardner, J., and Charles Bleil (Senior Justice, Retired, Sitting by Assignment)).

Held: Appellant’s sitting alone in the parked pickup with the engine running and his turning off the engine and handing the keys to the EMT sufficiently show that he operated the motor vehicle. Further, the trial court did not err by allowing the State to discuss the prior DWI convictions used to enhance the DWI to a felony in voir dire or by allowing the State to read the stipulation to the jury. Finally, Appellant did not withdraw his plea of true to the repeat offender notice, and even if he had done so, the evidence still sufficiently proved his previous conviction alleged therein.