Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of July 9, 2018.

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.

In re Commitment of Bluitt, No. 02-17-00150-CV (July 12, 2018) (Sudderth, C.J., joined by Meier and Birdwell, JJ.).

Held:  Chapter 841 of the Texas Health & Safety Code guarantees a person whom the State seeks to have civilly committed as a sexually violent predator the right to appear in person at the trial.  Because the requirement that the trial take place within 270 days of filing is waivable, we remand the proceeding to the trial court to determine the extent of Bluitt’s waiver or if a continuance should be granted on any other grounds.

City of Forest Hill, Tex. v. Benson, No. 02-17-00346-CV (July 12, 2018) (Meier, J., joined by Walker, J.; Kerr, J., dissents with opinion).

Held:  In determining which election-code provision to apply as a remedy for Benson’s incompatible dual roles, the trial court properly rejected the City’s arguments that section 141.034 rendered the relief afforded by section 141.033 moot and that section 201.025 applied.

Dissent:  Election code section 201.025 and the common-law principles of incompatibility and effective resignation (from which section 201.025 is derived) more logically apply to Benson—who had already been sworn in to both offices—than election code section 141.033, which addresses ballots.