Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of August 28, 2017.

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.

Schmitz v. Denton Cty. Cowboy Church, No. 02-16-00114-CV (Aug. 31, 2017) (Livingston, C.J., joined by Pittman, J.; Gabriel, J., concurs without opinion.).

 Held:  In this suit for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and damages for nuisance injuries, the trial court did not err by dismissing the claims of Schmitz and the other plaintiffs against the Town of Ponder because they did not plead or prove sufficient jurisdictional facts to show that the Town’s immunity was waived.  However, the trial court erred by granting Denton County Cowboy Church’s plea to the jurisdiction as to Schmitz only because he pled and proved—for jurisdictional, not necessarily merits purposes—sufficient facts to show that his claims based on the Church’s imminent future use of its property for rodeo events were ripe and that he had suffered a particularized injury.

Ex parte Walsh, Nos. 02-17-00136-CR, 02-17-00137-CR, 02-17-00138-CR (Aug. 31, 2017) (Livingston, C.J., joined by Meier and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held:  Appellant’s claims that the State violated constitutional and statutory provisions by deputizing attorneys from the Texas State Securities Board to prosecute him for three offenses are not cognizable in a petition for writ of habeas corpus.  Even if valid, those claims would not result in appellant’s immediate release through the dismissal of his indictments.