Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of April 8, 2024.

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.

Tex. Woman’s Univ. v. Casper, No. 02-23-00384-CV (Apr. 11, 2024) (Sudderth, C.J., joined by Bassel and Womack, JJ.).

Held: Under the plain language of the election-of-remedies provision in the Texas Human Rights Commission Act (TCHRA), an “initiated” federal action triggers the prohibition on filing a duplicative TCHRA complaint.  See Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 21.211.  Nothing in the statute conditions the prohibition on the federal action’s ongoing status or past resolution, and nothing in the statute removes the bar if—as in this case—the federal action is later abandoned.

Martinez v. State, Nos. 02-22-00291-CR, 02-22-00292-CR, 02-22-00293-CR, 02-22-00294-CR (Apr. 11, 2024) (Bassel, J., joined by Womack and Wallach, JJ.).

Held: Officers may open a cell phone abandoned at a crime scene to view non-electronic identifying information, such as the phone’s international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) number, and then use that identifying information to obtain a search warrant for the phone’s digital data.