Second Court of Appeals

Week of May 14, 2018

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of May 14, 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.

Robbins v. Robbins, No. 02-16-00285-CV (May 17, 2018) (Pittman, J., joined by Walker, J.; Meier, J., concurs without opinion).

Held:  Appellant’s delivery of the warranty deed after the trial court’s rendition did not moot this appeal because his words and other actions showed an intent to continue the appeal.  Further, Appellant did not have a fiduciary duty to his ex-wife regarding the marital residential property, which the trial court did not characterize in the divorce decree but ordered sold with the net proceeds split evenly between the former spouses.  Finally, an award of attorney’s fees is not available for a claim of breach of fiduciary duty.

Senn v. State, No. 02-15-00201-CR (May 17, 2018) (op. on remand) (Walker, J., joined by Meier and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held:  Applying the holding from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’s recent opinion in Arteaga, which requires the State to prove facts that would constitute bigamy in order to enhance a sexual assault conviction from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony under Texas Penal Code section 22.011(f), the evidence is insufficient to trigger the statutory enhancement.